Break with the Past
by Zaerith Vrinn
Summary: Turbo regenerates and hides with allies beneath GCS. Vanellope finally thinks she's the leader her game needs when sealed off Unlockable characters are freed. Tensions mount between the old racers and the new. Enemies become allies, secrets and hidden pasts are revealed and a shady Lieutenant from Hero's Duty may be the biggest threat of all. TurboVanellope OCxOC FelixCalhoun
1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:** Okay so first WiR fanfic, please be nice. This fic will have original characters who will have some pretty big parts but since those pretty big parts won't involve chasing the tails of canon characters hoping to get some ass, hopefully that won't be a problem for most of you. Meant to be read like a sequel to WiR, meaning that I am not changing anything from canon, I am merely adding some elements to fill in blank spots. Some of these elements are based on my role plays as _cy-kingturbo_ on tumblr, but I will try to avoid repeating plots from them.

**Warning**: Will contain Vanillatastic (Turbo/Vanellope), OCxOC, Hero's Cuties (Felix/Calhoun), one sided OC/Calhoun, language, violence and maybe sexual content, I haven't _planned_ any, but if the mood calls for it...

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Wreck-It Ralph, other than having a legally bought copy of the movie and a Vanellope doll, characters whose names you recognize belong to Disney. If you do not recognize them, they are my original characters, or ocs belonging to friends who allow me to let their characters cameo in this fanfiction.

Break with the Past

For a long time there was sweet silent oblivion.

Or maybe it wasn't a long time, it was really hard to tell when it was oblivion. It felt like a long time at least, like he'd been there drifting in darkness forever. He didn't know there was more than this. He didn't have a name, a past, or a future. This was it, this void, it was everything, and all he ever needed. Then something called to him from somewhere beyond the black around him. Voices...voices...

If he ever said his first thoughts weren't _Who disturbs my slumber?_ He'd be lying.

Eyes snapped open, alert and confused, but mostly enraged and he slashed blindly at shapes that were gathered around him. Some small part of him recognized them, but only vaguely, as if from a far off dream. His claws slashed someone across the middle, practically in half, the startled screams were a delight to him. He rose to his feet, back arched dangerously, hissing and snarling in warning. Several of the figures jumped at him, crying out words he only half understood, but took to mean a threat.

He was an animal, surprised and angry. It fueled his power, making him just that much stronger than the morsels around him. He swatted them away with ease, their puny weapons making absolutely no impact against his hard shell. Outraged cries from them quickly turned to terror, and their attempts to subdue him became efforts to escape just as quickly. They were fast, and smart enough to run in different directions, he couldn't chase all of them, instead being forced to pick one target. The beast caught one man who struggled in vain against his grip, although the struggling was hardly necessary. Sure he'd been caught, but the monster didn't really know what to do with him now that he had him.

A rumble came from within.

Never mind, he knew what to do with his prisoner now. He smiled, his tongue tracing his lips as the man was raised toward them. Realizing what was intended, the man's struggles increased, but with no luck, the claws didn't even clutch him tighter, the predator was confident his prey would not escape.

"Turbo, stop!"

The others had failed, but _that_ voice reached him, and suddenly everything fell into place. He was Turbo, former racer of Turbotime, forced into exile when a stupid decision had cost him his home and his reputation. Outcast. That was what he was, an Outcast, hiding in the depths of Game Central Station with others like him, struggling to survive day to day, until he'd moved into Sugar Rush. He'd ruled the game in relative peace for many years, he couldn't leave without exposing himself, but he'd sent Sour Bill out with messages to other Outcasts, hidden as he was, inside foreign games.

Then Wreck-it Ralph had arrived, bringing with him a monster from Hero's Duty. Turbo was oblivious to it, and more concerned about Vanellope being on the board and getting a kart...Ralph had helped her, he knew that much, and on the track Turbo had tried to stop her, accidentally reveaking himself in the process...

After that...

Turbo dropped the man he'd been about to devour, recoiling in horror when he realized what he'd become. After the Glitch- the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush- had escaped him, the last thing he had seen was the open maw of a creature alien to the sweet little world. Everything beyond that was fragmented flashes he didn't have the will to organize into a complete memory. The former racer stared at his hands, now claws, and backed away from the gathering. They'd only meant to help him, and he'd...he'd...!

They weren't in Sugar Rush anymore, this was the Underground, a hidden level beneath Game Central Station. It was used by them as a halfway house for Outcasts without a game. Racing was a dangerous occupation, but it was Turbo's passion, and for it he had programmed himself so deeply into Sugar Rush that he'd be able to regenerate in the case that he ever needed to, never expecting to be back in this place. Death by broiling hot cola, bound by Cybug weakness was never anything he'd imagined could happen to him. The Cybrid trembled.

"Turbo." The voice from before, the one who had made him snap out of his rampage.

He glanced down, "General..." Misery rang in his voice and he lowered his head to look his ally in the eye.

The General, as the man called himself, was a tall character with blond hair and narrow blue eyes, the man had hard features and an almost permanent look of disinterest. He was dressed in a military uniform, black with red detailing on the rims of his long coat, the collar of which was large and hid his face from certain angles. The General raised a hand to touch Turbo's face, one of few the racer trusted to do such a thing, likewise Turbo was among only a handful who knew the General's name. They locked eyes, man to monster, the General's eyes were wise and hard, part of it was him being programmed that way, but he had also lived a life that made them such on their own.

Ashamed, Turbo couldn't hold that gaze and shut his eyes.

"Look at me." The General said, his voice had a natural command to it, but this was a request, not a demand and Turbo opened his eyes again. The General's expression rarely changed from his typically uninterested gaze, but the man had a smile now, and seemed to actually be impressed by something. "Perfect." He concluded removing his hand after his inspection. What, _him_? Well, considering the General's back story that didn't really surprise Turbo but...

His neck slid back, sinking into the shell of the Cybug body, and Turbo's limbs, way too many of them, pulled closer to his far too large body. Self-conscious, wanting to make himself smaller, to hide from the eyes that didn't agree with the General's declaration. "This isn't what I want..." Turbo groaned, tears stung at his eyes, but he refused to shed them. He was a racer, not a weapon!

The General's hand touched his face again, "You were yourself when we found you." He said, "The transformation didn't happen until we brought you down here, I suspect you will change back as well."

Okay, that should have been obvious, there was no way the Outcasts could have carried a fully grown Cybrid from Sugar Rush to this forgotten hole without being noticed, let alone through the small entrances and tight tunnels. Turbo ducked his head further back, but how long would he be like this, would he be able to control it?

Another figure stepped forward, the man Turbo had tried to eat moments ago. Noticing who it was, the racer turned monster wasn't convinced it had just been the man's bad luck that he almost became dinner. A growl emanated from his throat, returned with a glare from the man it was directed at, but the threat was ignored in favor of talking to the General. "What now?" He asked.

The General folded his arms, his 'scheming position' as it had been dubbed. While he awaited and answer, Turbo felt an odd sensation wash over him, red light flashed over the others. Like a glitch, his body had just temporarily broken up into pixels. The General nodded to him, it had happened before while he was unconscious, a prelude to his transformation, proving that it was possible to change back. Turbo gave a small sigh of relief, the General may be happy with what he had become, but racing was all Turbo ever wanted, beyond that was probably whatever had come with the Cybug code.

The General's arms unfolded again, "I don't know, I need some time to think of a new plan."

"In the meantime because of _Turbo's screw up _I doubt it's safe for any of us to remain where we are." There was more than a hint of blame in the other man's voice, and Turbo growled again in response, but couldn't argue with him about it. The General too gave him an annoyed glance, understanding that what had happened was beyond Turbo's control.

"I agree. The arcade will open again in a few hours. I suggest all of you take the first opportunity you get to retrieve your code boxes and return here." The General admitted. "Send word to everyone else to do the same."

The man spoke up again, "And then what, wait down here until you come up with a new plan? It's going to get awfully crowded in here, especially if bugboyis still like this." Another warning growl, the last one he was going to give, "May _I_ suggest that we each get our code boxes and insert ourselves into a different games so we're less likely to be discovered?"

The General hated to agree with him, it was written all over his face that he didn't appreciate the man's blatant attempt to appear more in control than him. But a good idea was still a good idea, and he gave his approval. "Tell the others."

The group started to disperse, heading back up to Game Central Station to do as ordered, even the loud mouth left, and soon only Turbo and the General remained. "It was too risky to try to retrieve your code box," The General told him, "It is still in Sugar Rush's code room, as such you are still connected to that game. I don't think the Princess will have any need to go in there, but we can't ignore the possibility that she might and will discover it when she does."

"So should I go back and get it?" Turbo asked, and then gestured to his body which pixelated again, "Wh3n I chAng3 bacK of c0ur5e." _Note to self, don't try to talk while face is breaking up._

The General shook his head. "No, you need to remain down here so I can study the patterns to your transformations, I won't risk you exposing yourself, and the rest of us, if you turn into the Cybug in the middle of the Station, or while you're in the game. I will make arrangements for someone else to get your code box."

Turbo didn't like the use of the word 'study', but he trusted the General, and he did have a point. It was unlikely that the General would try to purge the Cybug code from him, so until Turbo could find a way to do it himself, he would need his help understanding and controlling it. Nodding in agreement, Turbo found himself suddenly very tired. He'd been unconscious for some time, but that didn't give him much real rest.

He glanced at his surrounding, the Underground was much like Game Central Station, but instead of many trains, there was only one, with a single destination. The walls had cracks and holes in them that homeless Outcasts used as shelter until the General found them suitable games to be programmed into. Turbo had his own hole that had his old kart hidden in it, but in this from he was too large to fit in it and instead curled up right where he was with a dejected sigh.

The General sat down, leaning against him unafraid, "There's another reason I don't want you going back into Sugar Rush." He said.

Turbo understood immediately, "I know, I know, but I thought if I went in while the arcade was open-"

"-Do you really think I'd let you anyway? If you kill Vanellope there's no way to cover it up. I know you, you're thinking about how you're going to kill her right now, aren't you?"

Turbo gave an irritated growl, but didn't deny it. He shut his eyes again, envisioning Vanellope, the princess turned glitch who by now would undoubtedly have returned to her thrown. He pictured her big bright eyes, that sweet little smile, and could almost hear her annoyingly cute laugh...

...and easily imagined it turning into a scream.

**Author's end note:** Hope you enjoyed, you've just met two of the three major ocs that will be featured in this fic, the next you'll meet in the next chapter. Wondering how this is going to turn into a TurboxVanellope story if he's planning to kill her right now? Keep reading to find out!


	2. A Muddy Start

**Auth****or's note: **Thank you for returning to my fanfic, I hope you will enjoy the new chapter. I also want to make it clear that I personally hate Rancis Fluggerbutter, but my loathing for his character is has no influence on the way he behaves in this chapter and he will not be demonized in later parts of the story so Turbo can have Vanellope. I only mention this now because I have been accused of doing this in fics for other fandoms, where that wasn't the case either.

**Warning: **Original character. There is no graphic content in this chapter but there is a little fighting and shouting.

**Disclaimer: **All characters you recognize are property of Disney, I only have rights to Tofferita Chococream and any filler ocs I put in here as name only characters.

Break with the Past

As much as Vanellope hated to admit it, Turbo (AKA King Candy) had done a really good job of taking care of her kingdom while it was under his rule. She honestly expected to find out that the hacker had added all kinds of bonuses to his codes to give him unfair advantages in races, but the other racers claimed that, other than their modified memories, there was no noticeable difference in the game play. In fact, the only unfair advantage anyone could ever think of was Vanellope's own teleporting ability. Turbo genuinely was a really good racer.

Candlehead confided in her once that King Candy- er- Turbo had actually never told them to be mean to the glitch, and even discouraged it a couple of times. It had continued happening because they chose to do it themselves (mostly Taffyta, to which the pink clad racer profusely apologized for) when King Candy wasn't around to tell them not to. He wasn't responsible for the bullying either.

Ah, fudge-sickles dipped in caramel coating, Turbo had been a good leader!

Vanellope could only hope that she wasn't being compared to him behind her back, and if she was, that she was at least measuring up to him. Things went on as usual for weeks after the game was reset and Vanellope became the president, rather than princess, random roster races were conducted after the arcade closed and when the roster was decided the racers left the game to explore the arcade. King Candy had never left Sugar Rush, claiming he wasn't interested in leaving their game (more likely his disguise would drop if he did), and the racers had figured that to mean they shouldn't leave either, even though a few citizens left after hours.

With the racers leaving the game now, Vanellope worried about their safety outside and made up a rule that they should always remain in groups of at least three when leaving the game, or at least staying with friends from other games, and not wandering off on their own into some of the arcade's more dangerous games. Racers agreed this was a fair rule and Vanellope never had to come up with any punishment for violations. She was starting to feel that maybe she was just as good of a leader as Turbo.

Then the first unlockable characters started showing up.

Most of them were recolors of the main racers, like how Sticky and Torvald were recolors of Minty, but there were a few racers that were all new as well. It didn't make sense in the beginning, unlockable characters hadn't appeared during King Candy's rule, why now? Fortunately, this was one secret that the false king had shared with the royal advisory. Data overflow. That's what King Candy had told Sour Bill when he had sealed away the unlockable characters. Because their cabinet of Sugar Rush had the glitch running around, letting the unlockable characters out too would cause a data overflow that risked the whole game becoming glitchy and being unplugged.

It was the truth, wrapped in a lie. The reality was that the data overflow would be caused by unlockable characters being introduced into a game that had been messed with to accommodate a character that didn't belong there. Some of them even required Vanellope to be unlocked! For a while the president thought she had finally found Turbo's selfish core, other characters who suffered because he wanted to rule.

Turned out that sealing them up was not only to protect himself from exposure, but because the data overflow also was a _real_ threat to the game, and a danger to the released characters because if not properly introduced they could manifest as real glitches. On top of that, Turbo _had_ been letting them out, one at a time, slowly, making sure to select characters that did not need Vanellope to be released. Torvald and Sticky were unlockable recolors he'd let out when gamers met the requirements involving Minty Zaki, and Swizzle was an unlockable character released when gamers beat the race with Gloyd followed by beating it with Rancis. Another character had been scheduled for safe release within a few days before Vanellope had reset the game.

Foiled again by Turbo's surprisingly good leadership skills!

At least the new additions to the game were all very kind and completely understanding of why they had been sealed away for so long. The new number of racers also made the random roster races that much more interesting, and the results of the race more varied. Sugar Rush had an increase of popularity with a blast of new racers in the roster. The only disappointment being that Vanellope heard a few gamers asking about what had happened to King Candy and wondering if they would ever see him again.

Stupid Turbo be so fudging popular...

Tonight's roster was almost filled. Vanellope didn't enter every roster race, sometimes wanting to visit Ralph too bad to care if she would be racing during arcade hours or not, but when she did enter she always won first place. Taffyta usually got in second or third and once to her humiliation fourth place. After that the roster was virtually unpredictable because of the varying skills of the racers, new and old. One more spot and the roster would be filled. Vanellope sat in her kart, the one she had Ralph had made together, watching the rest of the race. Two racers appeared on the horizon, neck and neck for the final spot on the roster.

Right away Vanellope recognized Rancis. He was appearing on the roster less and less these days, recolors (some of them even his own!) and new characters quickly learning to take advantage of his inability to keep his eyes off his reflection in the side mirror for more than five minutes. The other Vanellope had to squint to identify. Tofferita Chocoacream, a recolor of Crumbelina DiCarmello. Of all the new racers, Tofferita was probably one of the most unique, not because of any special abilities or anything like that, but simply because Tofferita actually didn't seem to care about racing as much as the rest of the characters.

She'd been on the roster the fewest times of all the new characters, and motivated or not, she was on it again tonight. Yards away from the finish line, Toffee shifted her kart and the speed increased to over shoot Rancis, who gave a cry of dismay when she crossed before him. Tofferita stopped her kart and hopped out, Vanellope bounded over to congratulate her, while she heard Rancis complain to himself that Toffee didn't even want to race.

Tofferita Chococream had bright peachy skin and brown hair with rose highlights in the buns that were curled by her cheeks. Her outfit was identical to Crumbelina's, her hat and skirt were a bright yellow-brown color, while her jacket and leggings were a deeper more reddish color, detailed with silvery swoops. Other details were chocolatey colors, but her eyes were a natural forest-y green. Tofferita, like her name suggested, was based mostly on toffee flavored treats, but her kart was made from red velvet cake, suggesting that was a theme in her design as well.

For whatever reason, Tofferita was pessimistic. The glass was half empty, and winning wasn't a big deal to this particular racer, even when gamers picked her and won first place during arcade hours, her winning graphic was to catch the trophy and let out a bored sigh. Her loosing graphic was basically the same. Vanellope suspected that part of her view on life was based on the fact that she had been sealed away, and if the game hadn't been reset she would never have been released because victory with Crumbelina and Vanellope was required from gamers to unlock her. King Candy would _never_ have let her out.

"Hey congratulations! I hope you have fun in the races tomorrow!" Vanellope said cheerfully. While the other girl could be a bit of a downer to some racers, it was Vanellope's goal to get Toffee to smile at least once each day. Sometimes this goal was met, sometimes it wasn't. One thing for sure, a smile from her was worth it.

Tofferita looked at her and then at Rancis who was kicking the ground with disappointment and continuing to whine about how he'd almost made it. He looked a little ridiculous, but considering how much these races meant to (most of) the inhabitants of this game his reaction to loosing to the girl who didn't care was pretty much justified. "Yeah, because my entire self worth _predicates_ on how many trophies I win." Tofferita sighed, slightly mocking Rancis for the exact thing, there was a shadow of a smile on her lips, not good enough to meet Vanellope's goal though.

Normally Toffee's sense of humor went ignored by the other racer's, who raced for fun, but Rancis turned on his heels and stomped over to the two girls. Maybe he'd just wanted to be on the roster really bad this time, or he'd just lost too many times recently, but for some reason he just couldn't shrug off her comment.

"Why do you even bother entering the races?" He demanded, "You may not care about the results, but some of us do! Why enter if it doesn't matter?"

Vanellope tried to silence him, but Tofferita didn't seem phased by the outburst. "I don't care if I end up on the roster, but I _do_ like being on the track, I like listening to my engine hum, I like pushing my kart to go as fast as it will go, and I like watching losers disappear in my mirrors." She replied, "And that's the only thing I use them for." This was obviously a jab at Rancis for his tendency to admire himself on the road.

The president understood where Toffee was coming from, she'd spent many years in exile dreaming of being on the raceway, and it was a joy she wouldn't give up for the world, but Tofferita had taken the retort too far by making fun of Rancis (even if he'd sort of walked into it).

Before she could stop the argument though, the peanut buttercup themed racer shouted out "Well if you don't care about being on the roster then why don't you forfeit your place to me and just drive around the game willy-nilly!"

Vanellope opened her mouth, hoping to get a word in, but Tofferita's tongue was quicker than hers, "I beat you across the finish line. I earned that spot, I'm not giving it up."

The shouting had started to draw the attention of the other racers who had already crossed the finish line, and they were starting to approach. They looked at Vanellope, wanting her to break this up, but also glanced between Rancis and Tofferita, silently picking sides. The newer racers were all on Toffee's side, the older ones were split up, some of them siding with Rancis because they felt a sense of loyalty to stick together, but others realizing that he had no right to even suggest Tofferita give up her spot on the roster.

But regardless of whether or not they agreed with him on the point about the pessimistic racer not caring about the roster, everyone could agree what he did next was completely out of line. Rancis reached out and pushed Tofferita over, the pessimist falling painfully on her behind. "You shouldn't have been unlocked! Nobody wants you here!"

"Rancis!" Vanellope cried in outrage, his treatment of the recolor reminded her too much of when he and the other racers had treated her similarly for being a 'glitch'. Breaking up fights between the original racers and the latecomers was nothing new, but this was the first time Vanellope had ever witnessed anything she actually considered bullying. "That was completely uncalled for! Help her up and apologize _this instant_!"

Had Turbo ever had to yell at the racers like this?

Old habits die hard, even with a program rewrite Rancis was sometimes too stuck up to admit he was being a jerk, and Tofferita was too, well too pessimistic to accept his help or apology even if he gave it. She stood up on her own, dusting off her skirt a bit, and continuing as if still unfazed by what Rancis had said and done, but Vanellope could tell it had hurt her pretty deeply.

"Ha! If nobody wants me here, fine! I'll leave, but you're still not getting my spot on the roster!" She said turning around and getting right back in her kart, "You bet your molasses I'll be back before the arcade opens!" She shouted over the roar of the engine.

"Toffee!" Vanellope called, trying to run after her, but the other girl drove off, heading straight for Game Central Station. She turned around, "Now look what you did!" She shouted accusingly at Rancis.

The other gathered racers all stared at him in shock, and it finally seemed to dawn on Rancis that he was acting just like he had when he had bullied the former glitch, His face turned bright red and he looked at the ground in shame, "Oh fudge! I didn't mean- It's just that...! I was only...I-I'm sorry Vanellope!" He squeaked out. "I don't know what came over me!"

"Don't be sorry to me, be sorry to Tofferita!" She replied and began heading towards her kart. "C'mon let's go find her, you need apologize, and you_ do not_ get to say you were only joking, alright?" Rancis nodded with his head hung to stare at his feet. Though Vanellope had been generally forgiving to the racers for the way they had treated her, she'd also gone to several of them for private apologies, and among the things Vanellope had requested from the peanut butter cup racer was an apology regarding his claim about his bullying being a joke

"Does anybody know where she'd be going?" Vanellope asked the remaining group, including a few people just joining them after crossing the finish line who were given a quick sum up of the incident.

There was no answer when Vanellope got into her kart. The racers were either still looking at Rancis disapprovingly, or looking amongst themselves nervously. Did nobody know Tofferita Chococream enough to even _guess_ where she'd go when she was upset? Vanellope let out an exasperated sigh. "Alright, I'm going up to Game Central Station to find Tofferita. Rancis is coming with me to apologize to her We need one more person to come with us, any volunteers?"

Things remained quiet for several seconds before Taffyta and Candlehead both stepped forward. Rancis was part of their trio, the three of them never went anywhere without the others, and if Rancis was going to apologize to someone they wanted to be there. Whether this was because they thought the boy needed emotional support from his friends, or they just wanted the rare opportunity to watch Rancis forced to say he was sorry without adding some excuse.

The party formed, all of them got into their karts and went after Tofferita. They found her kart abandoned at the Sugar Rush Station, seemed she was going the rest of her way on foot. But on foot to where? Vanellope got out of her kart and looked around at the masses entering and exiting the different games. She didn't see the little racer anywhere, and started to really worry. Most characters in the arcade were much bigger than the Sugar Rush racers, and some of the _really_ big ones didn't tend to watch where their feet ended up. This was exactly why she wanted them to stay in groups when they left Sugar Rush!

Vanellope walked toward one of the games, "Alright, guys, let's start at Tapper's, if she isn't there, then maybe at least somebody saw her go somewhere else." She decided.

The trio behind her nodded and they entered the tavern to begin their search.

**Author's end note: **Considering I wrote most of this chapter at three in the morning I think this turned out pretty well. Stay tuned for the next chapter, thanks for reading!


	3. The Deal in the Dark

**Author's note: **Lookie here, I wrote another chapter. Some of the following scenes are mildly based of an RP plot. I have made several major changes to the overall plot of this encounter so it isn't a copy paste of the role play, these changes include character addition and some plot subtractions that were in the RP but will not be in this fanfic.

**Warning: **May contain language, this chapter is also longer than the others.**  
Disclaimer: **Turbo, Vanellope, Tapper and all recognizable characters belong to their respective copyright holders. If you do not recognize a name, check the internet for existing characters under those names and if you do not find anyone assume they belong to me. Hero's Dumbass is inarguable mine, however.

Break with the Past

Three weeks without an incident.

That was a new record, and a reason to celebrate, Turbo convinced himself as he sat in Tapper's Tavern sipping at a root beer. The ice cold drink was a welcome delight, and a much needed reminder of better times. Where once Turbo could walk into this tavern and the only thing he had to worry about was if he had any fans inside who would get them all kicked out for being too loud, Turbo now had to wear a tattered old cloak and leave his helmet behind to ensure he wouldn't be recognized. If he was, being kicked out was the least of his problems.

The General's study of his transformations had concluded a number of triggers Turbo had to be careful of, his temper, hunger, fear for his life. It was really risky to leave the Underground, but the racer hadn't had one of Tapper's Rootbeers in so long his craving had finally overcome his wish to remain hidden. There had been Rootbeer in Sugar Rush, but it wasn't the same. There was a little more zing in Tapper's drinks that, considering the origins of Tapper's game, Turbo had long suspected was alcohol. It explained why minors weren't allowed in the game after certain hours.

Tapper was celebrating something today too. The first mug of Rootbeer for each customer had been completely free of charge, as well as an occasional random free refill and a free item off the food menu. Turbo had a little money to spend, but free things could never be passed up, and he sat in the corner of the tavern picking slowly at a plate of french fries that had been sent his way and sipping at his second free refill. A bottle of ketchup was set in front of him and he shared a knowing look with the character who put it there.

Drinks were vended by Tapper, that was the way it had always been, but no one ever questioned the presence of the server who passed out food after the arcade closed. The young woman gave him a nod, Turbo shouldn't stick around too much longer because if he was recognized she wouldn't be able to help him without exposing herself as a hacker who did not belong in this game, she wasn't the only one either. Turbo recognized at least one other Outcast in Tapper's at the moment, sitting with a group of men in black armor, laughing and making fun of some of the loser gamers that had played that day so naturally no one would ever guess he didn't belong with them. It was rather surprising to realize just how many hackers slipped into other games and never got caught. Turbo returned the nod in silent agreement with the hacker in Tappers, after he was finished with the fries he'd leave.

If only plans so simply could go right.

Turbo didn't take any notice to the latest group that entered the tavern, but he heard an irritatingly familiar voice pipe up, "Hey, Tap's my man! How's business tonight?"

The glitch!

Turbo turned sharply at Vanellope's voice. It didn't matter that she was the true ruler of Sugar Rush, he was too used to calling her a glitch and it wasn't an easy habit to break after fifteen years. Ah great, there were four of the racers from Sugar Rush in the bar, he doubted very much that three of them would know who he was if they saw him, but if Vanellope noticed him, he was doomed. He stood from his stool, leaving half of his fries uneaten, the sooner he was out of there the better. The only problem was that the group stood between him and the exit.

Fudgesticks!

"Business is great, madam president! It's the arcade's anniversary, so first drink's on the house!" That explained the free stuff, but what was Tapper going on about with this president business? Turbo dared to take a few steps closer, meaning to eavesdrop a little and then make his escape. Although the knife on the counter beside him was awfully tempting...

The other three racers, Candlehead, Taffyta and Rancis all eagerly took seats at the bar waiting for the promised free drink, but Vanellope shook her head, "Sorry Tapper, not right now, maybe _later_." She put a little emphasis on 'later' like she didn't plan to be here very long, "We're looking for somebody. One of the new recolors from my game, brown hat, red jacket, goes by 'Tofferita Chococream'. She's probably pretty upset about what happened after the roster race, but I don't think she's sitting around crying. Did you see her come in here by any chance?"

Recolor? Oh, the unlockable characters! What had happened after the roster race? Turbo may have been living a lie while he had ruled Sugar Rush, but he had become pretty attached to the game and it's inhabitants, hearing of a dispute amongst the racers, even if it involved one he didn't know made him pause again.

"Naw, sorry, I know her, but haven't seen her in here tonight." Tapper said, and then nodded toward one of the tables across the bar. "Why don't you ask the group back there? I don't know if lil' Toffee hangs out with the Hero's Duty corps, but I know she likes talking to guys from that game genre."

"Oh! Thanks Tapper! You're the best!" Vanellope clapped and grabbed Candlehead's hand, dragging her away from a Rootbeer that had been placed in front of the other Racer. Taffyta and Rancis following quickly after them.

Right towards Turbo.

Vanellope wasn't watching where she was going, and Turbo had no time to get out of the way, the result being her full on collision with his chest. Turbo had one foot raised trying to step to the side and hopefully be passed without notice, but with it not firmly on the ground when Vanellope had run into him he lost his balance, instinctively grabbing hold of Vanellope to try and steady himself. The outcome? Both of them ending up on the floor, Turbo bruising his rear and getting Vanellope sprawled awkwardly on top of him.

"Omigosh, I'm so sorry! Are you-you- _YOU_!" What started as an apology turned into a nasty accusation as she recognized the gray face belonging to the man that she'd toppled over. Before he could stop her, she flipped over his hood revealing him to everyone within eye shot. "_Turbo_!"

The sounds of the bar went completely silent the moment his name left her lips. Taffyta and Rancis gave identical shocked gasps which might have been humorous considering how girly they had been, had it not been that the gasps were directed at him. Candlehead took a moment longer to put two and two together, but once she did she gave the exact same gasp as the other two.

Tapper and the female server exchanged an unsure glance, when Tapper looked away from her she also gave Turbo a quick look of pity. The group from Hero's Duty got to their feet, the first to do so (Hero's Dumbass, as Turbo had been mentally referring to him all night) raised his weapon as well. A really stupid move.

The Cybug in Turbo's code recognized the weapon, knew the threat it posed, and reacted to it. Turbo fought to remain in control, taking advantage of everyone's shock to jump from the floor and make a break for the door before things got out of hand, being so close it was easy to slip out and vanish in the crowded the station before the corps or anyone else could get out to follow him.

Turbo went straight for a small crack in the wall, most characters were too big to fit through it so it was an ideal hiding spot, but that wasn't all. It wasn't just a crack; deeper in, it became a tunnel, one of the many hidden entrances to the underground. It was a labyrinth down there, even if someone small followed him in he could easily loose them in all the twists and turns in the dark. Turbo was almost to it when he suddenly realized he was carrying along an unwanted guest.

"Hey! You creep! Lemme go! Let! Me! Go!"

Fudge!

Turbo wasn't sure if he had just never let go when he'd grabbed Vanellope in attempt to remain up right, or if he'd snatched her again as he fled because of some subconscious impulse to take her down here and kill her, but it was too late to drop her now that she had seen where he was heading. He was a fugitive with a hostage now, and his mind quickly started to whirl with options about what to do about it. Turbo pushed her a head of him, the cramped space of the tunnel leaving her with two options, go deeper in or face him, and he had already tried to kill her once so she knew he wasn't above trying it again.

But Turbo couldn't let her get too far ahead of him either, if Vanellope got away he might loose her in the tunnel and have no chance at turning this around. "Hey! Stop! You're gonna get lost like that!" He shouted grabbing Vanellope by the hood.

She glitched into blue codes of ones and zeros, the glitch spread from her to him, identical in every way except that he broke into red code. She was trying to escape with her teleporting ability, but because he had a hold of her, the attempt had only succeeded in bringing Turbo with her, landing them in the exactly where they were before. With her running and him chasing.

Only now he still had a grip on her hood and yanked her back into his chest. She struggled and fought while he tried to pin her arms to her side, "Would you calm down, Princess!? I'm not gonna hurt ya!" There was no guaranteeing that was a permanent promise, but for now it was the truth.

Bringing her this way was a mistake because witnesses would soon have search parties looking for her, leading them straight to the Underground and the other Outcasts. They'd all be exposed, and he couldn't let that happen. And if Vanellope was anything except safe when she was found, not only would her friends make him pay for it, but the General would be very disappointed in him as well.

The claim wasn't reassuring to Vanellope in the slightest, she continued to struggle, getting them tangled together as Turbo tried to restrain her. "It's _president_, and you've already hurt me!" She elbowed him in the stomach, his grip loosened enough that she might have escaped, but the struggle had them so caught up in each other's limbs that Vanellope tripped and tried to regain her balance, twirling around and grabbing Turbo to steady herself like he had in Tapper's.

The results were the same, both of them landing hard on the ground. Turbo's palms scraped painfully against the concrete and Vanellope yelped when she landed on her behind. Turbo's weight knocked her over, slamming her head against the floor and for a moment she didn't move. Likewise the burn on his hands from his fall immobilized Turbo for a moment, and he shut his eyes against it, biting back a cry until the shock wore away. The pain never faded, but Turbo finally released a breath he didn't know he was holding and he lifted himself away from Vanellope to inspect his palms.

Ugh! For only falling so far, the flesh had ripped quite a bit, he was bleeding at they stung like a bitch. He made a face, and tried to ignore the burning as he checked to make sure Vanellope was still conscious. "H-hey, ow, you okay? ehh.." He prodded her shoulder with a finger, not wanting to burden his palms with the effort of touching her, and _maybe_ she'd appreciate him not getting blood on her.

Still movement made him wince, and when Vanellope did respond it was by slapping his hand away, making him cry out when she did. He thought she was going to take off and run again while she had the chance, but his gasp made her stop.

"Oh, what's the matter? Hey, are you hurt?" Turbo couldn't tell if she was genuinely concerned about him or if she was somehow mocking him, but he withdrew from her, clutching his hands defensively.

"I'm fine! I just scrapped my palms!" he snapped. Turbo had pretty good vision in the dark, and he could see Vanellope staring at him. She had the same look she had on her face when he'd first arrived in Sugar Rush all those years ago and told he he no longer had a game. A small look of pity, and wanting to do something for him. The look vanished quickly, only given because she was programmed as a generous and kind person, but he had wronged her and she frowned at him. The frown became a glare, tears brimming at the edges of her eyes, but she held them back. "Why did you bring me down here!? What do you want, haven't you done enough damage!? You know you're not gonna get away with this!"

"Oh shut up, will ya? I already said I'm not gonna do anything!" He snapped back, seeing her eyes widen at his raised voice, he sighed and continued in a much softer tone, "Look, I didn't mean to bring you down here, alright? I just wanted to get out of Tapper's, I didn't even realize I was holding you." The gentleness of his response seemed to calm her, but Vanellope still looked on edge, like she was suspecting a trap.

The same look she had when she knew she had been betrayed.

Turbo didn't know Vanellope all that well because of what he'd done, but she had changed very little from his brief time knowing her before he'd taken over her game. Something about the way she looked at him now melted away his desire to kill her as he considered instead explaining himself and his situation instead. Ugh, it was her stupid eyes and the way her bottom lip was sticking out! Nothing like a pouting child to make someone feel bad about something.

"Here's the deal," He said, not wanting Vanellope to get a chance to make him feel any worse, or have her stuck down her any longer with him. "I'll take you back up to Game Central Station with no fuss, but when you get there you gotta go tell everybody you're okay and not to come after me, okay?"

"What make you think I need you're help?" She replied, "I can get back on my own!"

Turbo chuckled, "Can you?" He asked, in response she glanced around her. Turbo didn't know how well Vanellope could see in the dark, but if she could she would be noting the uneven path that split in different directions, some of them led deeper in, most to dead ends, only one to the surface.

"Ummm..."

"Can you even see past your hand when you hold it out in front of you?" He continued, a smile growing on his face as she tested it.

"No, but..." her hand dropped back to her side and there was that look again, "How do I know you're not gonna trick me into getting lost!?" She demanded.

"Didn't you hear me? I need you to call off the bloodhounds that'll be sent after me because of this." He offered his arm, careful to keep his palm away from her, "If it makes you feel better you can hold on to me, if I get you lost, I get lost too."

He expected her to reject the offer, maybe yell at him some more and then storm off, effectively dooming both of them, but Vanellope was a lot more reasonable than he thought. She took his arm, holding him like a guard escorting a prisoner, the complete opposite of what Turbo had meant, but as long as Vanellope was on her way back out of his life, he wasn't going to argue. "Alright, I promise I'll tell them not to go after you. I can't promise they'll listen to me, but I'll uphold my end, and I won't let go until I see the light of day."

This probably wouldn't have been a problem if she weren't squeezing his arm uncomfortably tight. But, again, as long as they were on their way, he wasn't going to complain. Turbo had a lot on his mind, mostly regarding how she just couldn't stay out of his way, but bit his tongue to keep quiet. The sooner they parted ways the better, the less time they spent together the better, the less they talked about it-

"How are you back?" Vanellope asked suddenly.

"Hmm?" Distracted by his desire to just get her out of his life and move on, he didn't understand her question.

"If you die outside your game you don't regenerate, so how are you back?" Vanellope restated, she sounded massively confused, rightfully so considering Sonic's PSA in Game Central Station, but she also seemed to just realize that he shouldn't be back.

"I _was_ in my game." Turbo said, she squeezed his arm tighter, offended by the remark and confused by it's meaning, "When I was in the code room and put myself into the game, _I put myself __into the game_. The code didn't know I wasn't supposed to be there, so I regenerated." It was a little more complicated than that, but he wasn't really feeling particularly chatty so he wasn't going to go into details.

Vanellope still didn't ease her grip, "Where have you been, then? You haven't been hiding in Sugar Rush, have you?" There was a hint of violation in her voice that he took offense to.

"Uh, hello? Did you think I was running down this way because I like dark tight places?" He answered rolling his eyes.

"You live _down here_?" She exclaimed.

"Further down the tunnels lead into a station like Game Central, connecting it to the electrical system that powers the whole arcade." Turbo explained, hoping that her knowing he didn't live a cramped tunnel made him sound less like a hobo. He didn't want to mention the other Outcasts, but it slipped out anyway, "It's fine if you don't mind crowds."

"What?" She said.

Too late to say he was by himself Turbo had to come up with something to say instead, "I'm not the only hacker in the arcade Sugar Plum. I'm just the famous one." Shit, that was probably still saying too much. She questioned him about it further, but he refused to reveal any more, no matter how much she pleaded.

Vanellope's glitch had taken them further from the exit than Turbo had thought, and he got a little turned around but didn't mention it. Light from the station could be seen in the distance, again Vanellope took him by surprise by not ditching him the moment she saw it. Her grip loosened a bit, but she didn't let go, which got the older racer a little suspicious. Was she planning to drag him out and turn him in to the Surge Protector, or worse, Ralph?

He stopped in his tracks, not budging any further even when Vanellope tugged on his arm to try to get him to keep going. "You're the one who wants to see daylight. There it is, go get it." He argued.

"You don't want to be up there too?" Vanellope asked, there was that pity again.

Of course he wanted to be up there. He was programmed to be standing spotlight, not hiding in the shadows, but if he showed his face up there again it wouldn't matter if Vanellope was alright. He shook his head, the light from outside illuminating him enough that she could see. "That's not my world anymore."

Vanellope looked at him and said nothing for a long time. He shook her off his arm, ready to retreat back into the tunnel, but she finally spoke again. "Why did you take over my game?"

Turbo didn't answer, even if he explained, she wouldn't understand why without a _lot_ of context to his motivations. Instead he looked at the ground and shook his head as he replied, "There's a whole story you don't know, Gumdrop" He had been having the hardest time dropping the habit of using candy nicknames since he'd left Sugar Rush, but Vanellope wasn't stopping him like the other Outcasts usually did so he didn't even notice he was doing it, "and I don't have time to tell it. If ya wanna know yer gonna need to come ask me about it some other time."

From the look on Vanellope's face that didn't seem to be anything she had any immediate desire to do. "Meet me at the game Burger Time tomorrow night after the arcade closes. I'll tell you everything, but only if you come, and you're alone." To sweeten the deal Turbo added, "Taking over Sugar Rush- and even turning you into a glitch- wasn't my original intention." He saw the curiosity spark in her eyes.

Turbo turned around, heading back down the tunnel when she suddenly called out, "Turbo, wait!" He stopped and she came running back to him, her had something she was taking out of the pocket of her sweatshirt. He couldn't make out what it was until she stopped, "Give me your hands."

It was a box of band-aids, confused he didn't move and she repeated the request with a little more demand in her tone. After he spread his palms to her she opened the box and pulled out two band-aids. Looking at his hands Vanellope winced noticing how big the scrapes were and put the band-aids on carefully, Turbo gasped a few times, but didn't say anything. s

"There!" She declared, putting her box back in her pocket and looking him in the face, "Your story had _better_ be _good_!" With that she whirled around again and dashed back up to the light, her ponytail bouncing with every step. She disappeared into the world above and was gone for several minutes before Turbo realized her was still standing there staring after her.

He turned around with an angry huff and looked at his now bandaged palms. Did she think this changed things between them? Ha! He owed her an explanation at least, now that he had promised it, but that was it. If he could just get her alone somewhere where he could make it look like some tragic accident because the poor little sprite had left her game, she was a dead little glitch.

He grinned to himself, but somehow the thought wasn't as satisfying as it should have been.

**Author's end note:** Please remember to review. I'd like to know what you think and if there's anything I should be trying to improve.


	4. Half-Light Nexus

**Author's Note: **I have writer's block for role plays, but fanfic is fine, so the chapter you are about to read has actually been complete for a bit longer from between my last update and now that I'm uploading it.

**Warning: **This chapter focuses primarily on my original characters and will include some graphic violent material and probably language

**Disclaimer:** All characters in this chapter are mine as is the video game world featured, unless you recognize a name then it is either property of Disney, or various gaming companies that own the characters you think you recognize. Any similarity between things in this fic and existing characters/worlds are pure coincidence.

Break with the Past

"Silver Four this is Gold leader, you've got one on your tail." The radio wave communication crackled with static, but the message was still understood. "Can you shake 'em, or do you want me to take them out?"

Tofferita adjusted her head gear with one and while navigating her small ship with the other so she could send a clear response. "Gold leader, they're too close, I'm gonna try to put some distance between us, but the moment that you have a good shot, take it."

"Copy, Silver Four."

Toffee maneuvered the ship with amazing skill for someone not used to 'driving stick' as she said, and even more impressively for a non native to the game. The heroes of _Half-Light __Nexus_ had been skeptical about the small racer from the candy go kart game when she'd first wandered into their game three months ago, but Toffee had talked them into letting her pilot one of the shuttle crafts from the tutorial mode. After receiving a score of 'good', the fighter pilots then decided to take Tofferita Chococream of Sugar Rush under their wings, teaching her more about the way their game worked and the piloting system of the ships.

The game was a typical first person space invasion game. The story went that humanity needed to unite against the strange hive-mind alien threat that Toffee couldn't pronounce if she tried, and she did try more than once before one of her mentors had teasingly told not to hurt herself. The goal of the game was to fight through space sectors separated by the different levels, until they reached the final stage where they fought the alien host-mind for the Nexus, the powerful energy source that the Host used to control all the aliens, without it the hive mind shattered and the drones dropped dead.

When the arcade closed, the pilots had to secure the Nexus until the morning. It's energy could be easily be used as a weapon if not being used to power _something_. The people of the game used the Nexus to power their mechanical city of Half-Light after the Arcade closed. After hours the Nexus was collected and taken to a high security vault. Problem was that if the arcade closed without retrieving the Nexus with the help of a Gamer, the citizens of Half-Light had to get it on their own, fighting aliens sometimes well into the night to do so.

Weeks after Toffee had started visiting the game and proved herself a worthy aviator, there had been several discussions about having her join missions to get the Nexus. It was dangerous of course, but eventually it was decided that Tofferita could fly a specially designed craft for speed and maneuverability to sneak past lines of defense while the game's natives distracted the aliens. Toffee had succeed in getting the Nexus for her friends five out of seven missions she had joined. It was looking like the score was going to be five out of eight this time, maybe the aliens were wising up to their strategy.

"Gold Leader, he's too close now, don't fire you'll hit me. I'm gonna try one more thing." She said into her microphone. "If this doesn't work I'm gonna have to bail." One of the fail-safes that had been programmed into the game was that the aliens couldn't survive in salt water, and that was exactly what was beneath the Sugar Rush pilot now, salt water in every direction.

The final battle took place in the sky's of a world called Earth. It was completely natural for the natives, at first Toffee found the planet to be really weird and funny smelling, but she got used to it really quickly, and loved it almost more than she loved her own candy covered world. Maybe if this mission went well she'd invite the pilots to Sugar Rush and see if Rancis wanted to push her in the mud with a platoon of heavily armored men and women at her back.

Toffee yanked on her joystick steering device (she wasn't sure of all the technical terms for all the gizmos in this game) and shot straight up. Her pursuer followed, twisting and turning to follow her strange flight pattern. She moved back and forth, heading higher and higher, and confusing her chaser. The alien lagged behind each switch, as she left the atmosphere ice began to form at the edges of her windows. What she was about to do was really risky, but if it worked...

The ships of this game weren't built to leave planetary atmospheres without shielding, and the alien ship following her had been hit by one of her comrades, their shields read as being down, however Tofferita's were still intact, a barrier of light enveloped her before vanishing, invisible but there. Behind her the alien ship began freezing over. A warning light blinked on Toffee's dashboard. While she had shields, her little craft had been designed specifically for the Earth level and was not actually meant for Space travel unless she was with the group. Her ship was powered by some technical link between her and the other pilots, meaning if she went too far away from them her ship would power down and cruise until the others caught up. It had been meant to protect her from being caught by the enemy without protections.

The ship behind her exploded. A self destruct sent by the host mind when it realized that Toffee was going to escape and that the alien inside would freeze. Instead of being relieved, Toffee panicked. At that same moment he power shut off completely. Shields went down and gravity pulled her back down to Earth. More importantly, her air had shut off! Toffee held her breath, knowing that the air would run out fast if she couldn't get controls back. She plummeted through the debris left by the self destruct of the alien and continued to fall through the air, gaining speed and starting to burn up.

Oh great, as if she didn't have enough on her list of ways she was about to die!

The power came back on just as suddenly as it had shut down. Shields and air returned, but the fire remained. "Guys! I'm burning! I'm gonna try to land this thing before the fuel tanks explode. Is there a land mass near by or can someone send for an Aquan rescue team to get me?"

"We can -ssst- both." There was so much static that Tofferita couldn't tell which pilot had responded. "Proxy I -sst- land is a few miles nor-sth west of your pos-sst- ion. Do you still have your screen -sstt- I can send you coordinat-sst-?"

"Yes!" Toffee replied trying to even her craft.

"-sssssts- Okay, here. -stt-When you land send -stt-message, we'll -sst- someone -ssssstt- pick you up while -ssssttttt- the Nexus. Toffee, I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry unless I'm dead," She replied, "We'll get the bastards good next time." Normally Sugar Rush racers didn't swear, but the Half-Light pilots had gotten her into some pretty bad habits.

There was some response, but Toffee couldn't hear it. For a moment she worried that she might not be able to contact them again with this radio, but they had given her a hand-held one in case of emergencies. Well, this was certainly an emergency. Gotta get to the island and worry about sending a signal when she wasn't in danger of dying in an explosion in the middle of the sky.

With a goal in mind, Toffee calmed the racing of her heart and focused on the coordinates sent to her by, okay, Commander Thomka was who she was talking to. It was much easier to control her ship now that she wasn't desperate to stay in the air. The islands came into view. The Earth had several underwater bases that used fruits and vegetables from islands such as this one as a food source. Tofferita wasn't a big fan of the dried versions of these foods, but in the raw form they were among her favorite foods.

_Maybe while I'm waiting for someone to come get me, I can find starfruit._ Toffee thought, for once trying to look on the bright side. _But knowing me all I'm gonna find is eggplants._ So much for thinking positive.

It was a rough landing. She'd had close calls before, but this was almost exactly like a crash that had once cost her a life, and a race, in Sugar Rush. Tofferita screamed when the sand burst over her windows. The ship bounced, thankfully this was a game where the people thought seat belts were important, other wise she would have gone crashing through the glass and landed mod-knew-where and probably been killed. Toffee was convinced she was going to die anyway, and made her last wish that she live just this once so that when her friends got the Nexus and secured it in Half-Light city she could invite them to her world.

Things went black for a while. She was dead, there was no way she survived this crash, she had a little epiphany and came to terms with her mortality and was prepared to see what happened next when she heard the familiar mod awful beeping of her warning gauge. Toffee opened her eyes, not sure what had happened for a moment when it all came back to her in a sudden flash. There was smoke everywhere, oh mod! The fire!

She coughed violently and struggled to get out of her seat. Hitting the exit button (Technical term? Who cared?) the top lifted from her ship and she hopped out as fast as she could and dashed away. Just in time, no sooner than she was out of range the whole ship suddenly blew. Toffee stopped to look back at the wreckage, still coughing smoke out of her lungs, the fresh air of the island helped to clear it. She felt bad for the destroyed ship, but it was part of this game, a bonus option as far as Gamers would ever know, it had probably already been recreated in the tutorial hanger.

Over her regular outfit, Toffee was now wearing beige pilot armor, designed specifically for her small frame it shrank with the push of a button into a backpack kept for her in locker at headquarters. The details made no sense to her, but essentially the suit/backpack carried everything she needed. In suit form, things like her radio and weapons were strapped to a belt at her waist while maps and food were in hidden pockets. In backpack form these items were organized into different sections of the bag.

Finding this was easier in the backpack form so Toffee hit the transformation button on her shoulder which returned the outfit to what her comrades called the 'travel pack'. The radio rested on the top. It only had a communication range of a few miles, so instead she pressed a button that sent a distress signal in a radius of more miles than she cared to know, somebody would be assigned to retrieve her. All she needed to do was keep the radio on hand and watch for the blinking red light on the box to turn green which meant that someone was within range for radio contact.

Tofferita slung the backpack over her shoulder and glanced around the island, it was one of the tropical ones, at least Toffee thought it was. Earth had hundreds of different ecosystems that her friends tried to explain to her, but the racer was prone to getting them mixed up. Whatever this place was, it had fruit plants so Tofferita ventured from the beach to see if they were any of the kind she liked. The island wasn't that big, it wouldn't hurt to get away from her fallen ship before something unpleasant came to investigate.

Too late.

An explosion rocked the ground next to her, a smoking hole feet from where she was. The blast hadn't come from a human weapon. Toffee looked up in a panic. A yellow-green monster with big red eyes, a small mouth with several rows of sharp pin-like teeth and two big incisors, but no nose. It wore brown armor like her flight suit, carried a large glowing gun, and stood not more than a few yards away. Tofferita had never seen the what the aliens looked like because they were always in ships, but the racer knew from propaganda around headquarters that this was exactly what stood before her now. She hadn't seen it before because it had blended so well with the trees around it. Fudge! Now that Toffee was looking she saw at least three more!

The one that had fired made an ugly noise, some kind of communication attempt, based on what she knew it was either a command to surrender or an order to kill. She didn't stick around to figure out. The racer was surprisingly fast for how short her tiny legs were. Unfortunately the aliens were fast too. Her only advantage was that her small size allowed her to disappear in foliage, and the lack of a nose kept them from smelling her out. They had to physically search for her.

Tofferita made very little sound as she ran, but found cover in the hollow of a fallen tree. She should be safe here for a while as long as none of them had seen her go in. Hopefully the host mind would believe her escaped and call them off soon enough. But what were they doing on the island to begin with? The pilots had always told her the aliens had no interest in the land, only in destroying humanity because they were a threat to the power wielded by the Host mind. What had caused the Host to send drones on to this island?

More ugly noises of the alien language sounded nearby, and getting closer. Too close, and she heard the tell-tale sound of a weapon being warmed up. Fudge! One of them must have seen her! She knew it was over, even if she got out of the log there was no where she could run, and no one around to help her. For the second time in less that an hour, she had an epiphany and came to terms with her mortality and was fully prepared to face her death, her only regret being that she wouldn't be back to show up Fluggerbutter about being one of the next day's avatars.

The noises suddenly increased in loudness and ugliness, almost sounding alarmed. Another noise filled the air, something unfamiliar and terrifying. Toffee clutch her knees to her chest hearing the sounds of a fight, feet shuffling against the ground, blows being passed back and forth, weapons being fired, and disgusting gushing noises that she didn't want to know the explanation for. The sounds of battle continued for several minutes before growing quiet and the aliens ran off. Footsteps approached the log.

"All clear, it's alright, you can come out now." A distinctly male voice said in perfectly clear English. Toffee refused to budge, she didn't recognize the voice, and he had a certain dialect that wasn't used by any of the people of this game. The man was silent a moment waiting on her, but finally added with a slightly irritated tone, "Or you can stay down there until they come back in greater numbers." He suggested.

The Stranger had a point, Toffee pressed the button on the strap of her backpack again to turn it back into the flight suit. Maybe this guy was a native that she just hadn't met yet? If that was the case then she should wear it so he knew she wasn't just some dumb kid messing around in the game. Tofferita crawled back out of the log. There were body parts of the aliens strew around the area, with glowing yellow blood, and a horrible stench that made her want to vomit. How had he done this to these creatures? Dusting dirt off her knees Toffee looked up at her rescuer, she had to crane her neck quite a bit because he was really tall.

He wore a black and red military uniform that was battered at the edges, a tear in one of the sleeves might have come from the battle a moment before, but it wasn't a uniform from this game, and his blond hair was grown out too much to pass regulation. Definitely an outsider, but no weapons on hand and he hardly looked capable of making this mess by hand. He carried one thing in each hand, a black box, like her radio, in one which he held a bit higher as if looking for a signal, and in the other he had a vial which he was slipping into his pocket.

Toffee's face got a bit hot. Her rescuer was kind of handsome. "Th-thank you." She said meekly. "How can I repay you?"

He glanced down at her."Well, well, this is definitely not on my list of things I expected to see in this game." He said gently, "I don't think there's anything you can really do to repay me, so just don't mention it. Are you alright little one?"

"I'm fine, and I'm not little!" the racer protested, her argument contradicted by the fact that she didn't ever reach the stranger's knees, and wouldn't even if she stood on her toes.

He chuckled in response and looked at his radio. "Alright then, what can I call you if not little one? Pint-size? Shortstack? How about if I call you-"

"-By my name!" She shouted, surprised by how rude he was being. "Tofferita! Or just Toffee!"

The man didn't even look down at her, "Hmm, Toffee..." He shook his device and turned a dial on it, shifting it around again searching for a signal. "Well, Toffee I'm sorry if I have disrupted your game in anyway, I take it since you were not prepared for those creatures that you were not expecting them to be here?"

"No, they never get out of their ships, and this isn't my game." Toffee told him, quite annoyed with his attitude.

"Sorry, I'm afraid that's my doing- Wait, what do you mean this isn't your game, what are you doing here?" He sounded surprised, but not accusatory. Tofferita knew the story about the Racer called Turbo who took over other games, he had been the reason she was sealed away for so long. People didn't use the term 'Going Turbo' very often anymore, it was too soon after the incident in Sugar Rush for many to feel comfortable speaking of him again, but this man didn't seem to think that she meant any harm by being here. Or rather, _couldn't_ do any harm because of her small size.

Toffee crossed her arms, well, that showed what he knew! "I'm visiting friends!" She declared, "What are you doing here?"

The man's faced dropped a little bit and he put his radio into a pouch in his pocket. "Nothing really." He answered, "I just came to survey the game and learn a little about it. I'm looking for ingredients that aren't available in other games. I must have done something to attract those monsters-"

"-Aliens-" Tofferita corrected.

He ignored her "-I haven't found what I came looking for, and it seems that I won't." He started to walk away. "I suppose if you have friends here someone else is coming to help you, right? If you want you can stick with me until they arrive in case more of those things show up."

That was the best idea he'd come up with since he'd saved her, Tofferita ran to keep up with him, taking five steps for every one of his. "Who are you anyway?" She asked.

"The General." He replied.

"You don't have a name?"

"I do." He said, stepping over a fallen log and waiting for her to climb over it, no easy task when it was almost as big as she was tall, but she refused to let him help her. "But I don't have to tell you it."

"Hey, I told you my name!" Toffee complained.

"True, but I didn't ask for your name, did I, _little one_?" He chuckled reminding her that she had blurted out her name to keep him from calling her short. "I only tell my name to the people I trust, and that is only a _very_ few."

"Oh, fine whatever, General. What game are you general of, General?" She purposely repeated the word hoping to make him realize how stupid it was to have a title and not a real name.

"None. My game was unplugged years ago." He told her. The General said it so casually that it must have indeed been a long time ago if he weren't all torn up about it.

"I'm sorry." She said anyway, "What game was it?"

"I don't have to tell you that." The General replied.

Now she was beginning to really get frustrated with him. "Alright mister!" She said stomping her foot, "If you're not gonna talk to me, why in the world do you think I'd wanna wait with you until my friends arrive!?"

"I thought we agreed it was in case more of those mons- I mean aliens- show up." The General answered with a chuckle.

"And what makes you think I can't handle myself?" She replied swatting ferns out of her face while the General merely let them brush his shins.

"The fact that when I found you, you were cowering in a rotting log suggested that you required some assistance. What are you doing in a game that's so dangerous?"He asked looking back down at her.

"I told you I'm visiting friends!" Toffee huffed, starting to like the General less and less.

"And where exactly are these friends that they aren't hear helping you right now?" He continued.

"I don't have to tell you that." The racer replied mimicking his voice in a mocking tone.

To her surprise he didn't get upset and instead he laughed, "Oh alright, I deserved that. Fine, I came here looking for a plant which in my game was call 'Moly' but has different names depending on which world you live in, if its programmed there at all. I'm using it to create this." He pulled the vial he'd slipped into his pocket earlier and leaned down to let her have look at it. "It works like a magic potion to give me extra strength and abilities, that's how I was able to beat the aliens earlier. Since my game was unplugged I can't get more of it so I've been having to synthesize more from ingredients I've collected around the arcade. There, I've told you something about me, a pretty personal secret of mine. May I kindly ask where your friends are?"

Toffee took the vial and inspected it. There appeared to be nothing particularly special about it, there was a fair amount of a blue-green liquid inside, but it didn't even glow or bubble. She handed it back to him, how could this man be so rude and so polite at the same time? It irritated her and she almost didn't answer his question, but her better nature got the best of her.

After all he had said the vial was a personal secret, "I'd still rather know your name next time, but fine."She pointed to the sky where overhead a few pilots chased more enemy ship, "My friends are up there, trying to get a special item from the aliens to power their city for the night. I was helping them but I got hit and crashed." She then gesture forward towards the ocean, "An aquatic team is supposed to come get me."

"I see." The General stood again putting his vial back into his pocket and retrieving another bit of tech from it, which he fiddled with for a moment before stashing it away again. "As I said before, I only give my name out to the people I trust most in the arcade, but if you tell me what game you came from, I will tell you what mine was, deal?"

Toffee rolled her eyes, "Okay, deal, whatever." How hard was it to just tell someone a name? He'd better have a really embarrassing name like Ben Dover. Hee, hee, _Bend Over._ Tofferita giggled a bit, prompting the General to ask her what was so funny, "Oh, nothing important. I'm from Sugar Rush by the way, it's rac-"

"Did you just say Sugar Rush?" The General said, stopping and twirling around to face her again, his long coat making an audible swoosh as he did. Nobody really ever asked about Sugar Rush, and if they did, it was generally about the racer who had taken over the game. Toffee crossed her arms, she didn't know any of the details regarding the take over, and it annoyed her when people asked, but before Tofferita could open her mouth to explain that she had not been unlocked at the time, the General stroked his chin thoughtfully, "You know, you may just be able to do something to repay me for saving your life after all..." He said more to himself than to her.

"Oh, well that's all good and dandy, but I believe we had a deal about me telling you my game and you telling me your game?" She tapped her foot impatiently, but he was ignoring her.

The General was lost in his thoughts, "It would only take a few minutes...but I'd need to get her in first, when no one else is around so we're not interrupted... Perhaps during one of those races...I'd need to know that she can do it first-"

"General!" She snapped. He looked back at her with surprise and actually seemed to be taken back by how angry she looked, "Our deal? What was your game called?" She demanded.

The General was silent a moment, a sad look washed over his face, missing his home and probably the people in it, "I came from _Call of Heroes_, I was it's final boss actually, and the only one that made if out before the game was unplugged." his hand went to his pocket subconsciously, guarding the vial hidden inside it.

Somehow Tofferita got the feeling that there was more to the story than that, but based on how secretive the General was, she doubted she'd get anything more from him even if she got on her knees and said pretty please with a cherry on top. Instead she turned her attention to the favor the General had been muttering about before she'd interrupted him, "So what do you want me to do, and what's it got to do with me being from Sugar Rush?" She asked.

The General got his far away look again, "I have a...friend, who visited there once. He left something in that game, but can't go back to get it himself. If you were to retrieve it for me so I could give it back to him, I'll consider us square."

Sounded simple enough, "What did he forget?" She asked.

The General put a finger to his lips, "That's a secret for now. As I said, I need to know if you will be able to do it-"

Toffee's radio beeped to life so suddenly that both of them jumped, "Silver Four, this is Aquan two, I'm on the beach but your signal's a little weak, where are you?"

The racer and honorary pilot grabbed her radio and responded, "I, uh, had a little trouble, I'm in the forest but not far from the beach, I'll be right out and my signal should be clearer." She saw the General raise an eyebrow and stuck her tongue out at him which made him smile and she rolled her eyes again.

"Copy Silver Four," The voice on the other side of the radio replied. "Over and out."

Toffee started to put her radio away when the General spoke up again, "Will you be visiting your friends again tomorrow?" He asked.

"I visit 'em every night." She answered, not looking at him.

"Then how about I meet you here when you're done visiting, and we'll talk about what you can do to repay me." He offered.

Tofferita finally looked at him, "And when I repay you, will you tell me your name."

The General was silent for a moment, but nodded, "I suppose I'll be asking quite a lot from you if you can do it. But that's the key, if, _if_ you can do it, and I'll only tell you after it's done." He agreed.

She raised her hand toward him, offering her pinky and a stern look, "Swear." She demanded.

He leaned down again and matched her look, for look, "Alright, but if we're making swears, then I should probably add that I would prefer you not tell anyone- from your game, this one, or any game- about this." He took her pinky in his, although his hand was much bigger than hers they still managed to fit together pretty nicely. "I swear when this is all over I will tell you my name."

"And I swear that I won't tell anyone that I owe you a favor." Toffee concluded.

The General rose and pulled more tech, or maybe the same from before, out of his pocket, "I'll stick around here a little longer then, if we have a deal, there's something I need to find first." Toffee was starting to make a break for the beach, but heard him and stopped.

"You need to find what?" She asked.

"The code room for this game." Came the answer short, cryptic answer. Toffee tried to pry for an explanation, but was dismissed. Another call from her radio encouraged the racer to continue to the beach, but as her tiny legs carried her to the shores, Toffee had to question what exactly she had gotten herself into.

**Author's end note: **Yeah, for reviews who claimed the plot is interesting, dark and even a little scary...You really have no idea. Thank you for reading, please review and tell me what you think of this chapter!


	5. Lieutenant Chkalov

**Author's Note: **I am currently accepting Ocs for cameos in this fic. I won't be giving any of them big reoccuring parts so this story gets overrun with Ocs, but if you would like a character of yours to appear please go to the Wreck-it Ralph forums on this site and submit them in my forum "Wreck-It Ralph OC Posterboard" guests are welcome to copy the format and leave character submissions via reviews, but I prefer you sign in to submit them so we can talk about possible cameos.

**Warning: **Hero's Cuties, some mild sexual content, OC introduction.

**Disclaimer: **All unfamiliar names in this chapter are OCs who I have rights to or permission to use. I'm sure I'm gonna get questions about Chkalov's name so let me tell you now, it is pronounced "Check-uh-luv". A second OC named Lauahi belonging to _**SnappleT**_cameos in this chapter as well. If you wish to know more about her, she has an active role in her creator's story "_Growth and Change_"

Break with the Past

Completely unaware of the events transpiring outside, Tamora Calhoun and Fix-It Felix Jr laid on their bed in his game enjoying a movie together. Well, 'enjoying' was a strong word for what they were doing. The movie was playing, they were lying there together with their faces toward the screen and occasionally making comments about it to prove they were in fact paying enough attention to the film to know what was happening. Felix, however, continuously found his gaze wandering to his wife's face.

Since they were from separate games, they had agreed to keep their own names to avoid any mess with the codes and name changes, but the rings around their fingers, effectively hidden from Gamers by the gloves worn by the two of them during arcade hours, proved without a doubt that the two of them were man and wife. Felix sighed a bit looking at Tamora's sharp dashing features. To some she might have been called hard, or even manly, but to Felix she was the most beautiful woman in the arcade. Who would have imagined that a simple contractor like himself would one day be blissfully married to a dynamite gal like Tamora?

She glanced down at him suddenly, their eyes locked, Felix's heart fluttered and he smiled sheepishly at her. Tamora gave an amused, half-smile back, so it was more like a smirk really, and leaned down to kiss him, once quickly on the corner of his lips and then a longer one directly on his mouth. Felix shifted slightly, moving upward to meet her before the Sergeant from Hero's Duty lifted him toward her and laying back still kissing him. She'd taken her armor off when she had arrived, but wore a light layer of tight fabric underneath which Felix was unzipping while she caressed his back and slid her hands to his front to undo his shirt buttons.

Felix broke their kiss, both of them took breaths and shared another quick kiss, "I lov-" Felix started when there was a sudden loud rapping on the door. Who could that be? Felix wondered, Ralph was out at his Bad Anon group and none of the Nicelanders had enough upper body strength to make that kind of noise

"Sergeant ! Fix-It!" A booming voice called from behind the door, "There's been some trouble at Tappers! Your friend, the little president has been kidnapped."

Tamora had been ignoring the urgency in Kohut's voice, in favor of kissing Felix some more, after all she trusted her men to handle most situations without her, but at the mention of Vanellope they both stopped and got up. Felix re-buttoned his shirt and ran to the door while Tamora got her armor back on.

"What did you say? What happened to Vanellope?" Felix asked, shutting the door only slightly so that his wife could have some privacy but still hear the full story.

"I'm afraid we don't know much." Kohut admitted, "A few of us were in Tapper's when Vanellope and a few of the other racers came in, they weren't there long before Vanellope ran into somebody she called 'Turbo' and he took off with her."

Felix gasped, "Turbo!?" At that exact moment Tamora opened the door exclaiming the same name.

How could that be? Turbo should have been incinerated by the Diet Cola beacon Ralph had created! Kohut had no further answers about how it was possible, but summarized the events that had followed as they made their way toward the elevator and out of the building. After Vanellope's kidnapping, the lights suddenly all went out at Tappers, causing momentary panic chaos. By the time the lights were back on the remaining racers were panicking and no one had seen where Turbo had taken Vanellope. and eye witness outside had only seen two smaller characters running by. Not realizing an abduction was taking place, no one had paid attention to see where they had gone.

"The Surge Protectors are trying to collect video footage, but they're having trouble too." Kohut finished as they reached the train out of game.

"I don't understand," Felix said, hopping into the car and scooting to the side as far as possible to leave room for his wife to sit with him."Ignoring the mystery of how he's still alive for now, what could he possibly want with Vanellope?"

Beside him Tamora snorted, "He wants what every addled-brained power mad psychopath wants after being trumped by a gorilla-armed junk pile and his spunky candy-coated side kick: Revenge. If he hasn't killed Vanellope already it's a fine bet that's exactly what he's got on his agenda."

"No." Felix replied, "Turbo isn't addled-brained, he got away with what happened in Sugar Rush for fifteen years, remember? And I knew him back in the day, this isn't his style at all. He'd be more subtle or more dramatic, this sounds more like an accidental encounter, not premeditated."

"What?" Kohut asked from the seat behind them, "You saying you were friends with that creep?"

"He wasn't always a creep, and sometimes I think I was his only friend." Felix sighed, "Turbo was a pretty swell guy until the incident with Roadblasters."

At the station they split up, the two soldiers going straight to Tapper's to get any updates on the situation while Felix went over to Pacman to tell Ralph what had happened. Pacman's train was much faster than the one from his game, but Felix still had plenty of time with his thoughts.

He wasn't exaggerating when he said he thought he was Turbo's only friend. The arcade had been so much smaller back then, most of the games only had a handful of characters in it. Being the most popular among the Gamers made for instant popularity among the character population, so Turbo was constantly flocked by wooing fans. That's what most of them were, fans, who were better friends with each other than they were with Turbo, using his popularity to boost their own social status. Felix had genuinely liked Turbo and it had come as an honest shock to hear what he had done.

At first Felix hadn't believed it, and wanted to stick up for the racer, thinking maybe what was going around was only rumors, but faster than spit everyone was saying the worst about the once idolized racer, and anything said in his favor was shot down immediately. The term "Going Turbo" spread like wildfire, and Felix had no choice but to go along with what the rest of the arcade said.

Soon enough it was just easier to try to forget it all together.

The train pulled in and Felix followed the sound of laughter to the meeting room. He stood in the door way unnoticed for a few seconds before coughing to get the attention of the group, only one person noticed, a character he wasn't familiar with. The creature was large with pale yellow fur, a few delicate feature that suggested femininity and probably would only be described as "not fat" to be polite.

The fact that she breathed a small spout of fire like a deep sigh made this even more likely. When she turned around she had big child-like brown eyes. "Kala mai ia'u! Excuse me, kulikuli! We have a visitor!" She exclaimed, although she wasn't heard over another speaker and a couple of laughs.

"What did you say Lauahi?" Someone else asked. The antagonist in question, Lauahi, scooted to the side so that their guest was no longer blocked by her large mass.

Ralph was sitting in the back of the room, "Felix?" He asked with a confused smile, "What brings you here?"

"Ralph, something's happened, I need you to come with me." Felix answered as carefully as possible, hoping not to worry everyone too much. Ralph raised an eyebrow questioningly, but told the group that he would be right back, "No, you probably won't." Felix corrected ushering for him to hurry.

Without another word red clad man stood and excused himself, coming as quickly as possible, Felix returned to the train, Ralph catching up before he even made it there. "Mind telling me what's happening, Felix?" The honest worry in his voice was very frightening to hear.

As much as he wanted to tell Ralph everything all right, Felix just couldn't tell a lie, but to soften the blow, he gave a sum up of the situation that was even less detailed than Kohut's. It still wasn't enough to keep Ralph calm in such a crisis. The shout probably be heard back in the meeting room.

"WHAAAAAAAAT!? IF I EVER GET HOLD OF THAT THAT GREY FACED MANIAC I'LL WRECK HIM SO BAD-"

"_Ralph_!" Felix put a finger to his lip to try to silence the wrecker, "We're trying to keep this quiet so the whole station doesn't get in a panic!"

Ralph looked ready to pulverize him, but in a matter of seconds calmed down, realizing the logic in this, "How is that little freak back?" Ralph asked as they got on the train together. Felix shrugged but didn't answer, "Well, when we find him, remind me to wait until after we find out before I pummel 'im."

"Right..." Felix sighed. The rest of the ride was spent in awkward silence, with Ralph's anger almost manifesting as a physical force while Felix sat in misery, wondering what had happened to the racer he had once called his friend.

Again in the station they ran for Tappers and finally arrived on the scene. All the regular customers had been interviewed one by one and sent out by the corps, and the only remaining characters in the game were Tapper and his employee, who stood behind the counter exchanging worried glances, Tapper wiped a glass with a rag, and the girl kept glancing out the door like she wanted to bolt through it herself. The soldiers from Hero's Duty, including Tamora, were gathered together talking amongst themselves and the Surge Protector about what to do next. Lastly, the three Sugar Rush racers who were huddled together utilizing their own problem solving method of sitting around crying until the adults did something to correct the problem.

Felix approached the corps while Ralph went to console the racers. At first no one noticed him, and Tamora was laughing about something that one of her soldiers had said, "I suppose you're right about that, lieutenant!"

There was a certain, strange sparkle in Tamora's laugh that made Felix a little uneasy "What's so funny?" He asked.

The corps all looked down at him, Tamora's smile left her face as she went back into a serious mode. The Soldiers all knew he was her husband, and despite their height difference, treated him as if they were on equal ground, except for one, who seemed to be puzzled by Felix's presence among them.

"Oh, nothing really," The Sergeant replied, "The Surge Protectors have been able to confirm that Turbo did not take Vanellope into another game. Lieutenant Chkalov just pointed out that it means our search area is considerable smaller."

Felix looked over at the Lieutenant in question, he was tall with a slim build, blond, with yellow-green eyes and a pointy face. The other man stared back down at him with an unimpressed look. "Huh," Felix said, trying to smile at the stranger, weird, he could have sworn he was acquainted with all the corp members, "Should we be introduced? I don't believe you and I have met Mr...?"

"Chkalov," Tamora told him, "And of course you've met him. I introduced you to everyone."

"Funny," the contractor mused, "I don't seem to recall seeing him at our wedding..."

Chkalov's eyes widened slightly, Tamora opened her mouth but closed it again, and the other men shared a confused glance, but Chkalov spoke up with a voice like gravel, "I was there, I'm just not one for grandeur, so I was in the back and didn't stay for the reception." He said.

This answer seemed acceptable, but Felix had a bad feeling about it. Before he press the matter further, one of the Sugar Rush racers suddenly cried out, "Vanellope!"

Everyone whirled to the door, and sure enough, there was the little president. "Hey, guys!"

Ralph was at her side in an instant, the three racers all latched on to him and hanging from his arms "'Hey, guys'!?" Rancis repeated, "You just got kidnapped by a guy who's tried to kill ya, and all you gotta say is 'hey, guys'!?" They all dropped off the Wrecker when he leaned down.

Vanellope opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Ralph inspecting her, "Are you alright!? Did he hurt you, how did you get away from that little gremlin!?"

She was pestered with more questions exactly like those originating from Candlehead and Taffyta, not once getting a chance to answer one before another was asked until she shouted over them "I'm fine! Look at me!" she rolled up her sleeves and hopped on each foot, with a wide smile on her face "Not hurt in the slightest!"

The corps and Felix had moved closer at this point, Felix looked her over, nope, nothing about Vanellope looked even remotely harmed, "How did you get away?" he asked gently.

Her smile dropped momentarily, but she had it back and bright as ever instantly, "Actually I didn't. He let me go. Didn't even kidnap me, either. The dope just got so caught up with trying to get out of here that he forgot to let go of me!"

Assured that she was fine, Ralph stood and began toward the exit, "Where did he go? I'm gonna tear him a new-"

"-No, Ralph!" Vanellope cried running ahead of him as if to block the door. Everyone stared at her, raising their brows in confusion at this. Vanellope shrugged, "I sorta promised that I wouldn't send anyone after him. I'm fine, and he didn't mean to do anything, can we just let it go? I don't think he's gonna be any trouble anymore."

"And what makes you think that?" Ralph said putting his hands on his hips, still looking like he was about to barge through the door and hunt the former racer down.

Vanellope bit her lip and twirled her finger around the licorice pull strings. Felix could see there was some specific reason, but Vanellope wasn't going to say it, instead answering, "He's already been beaten by us before, he can't be dumb enough to try it again."

Ralph probably suspected their was more to it than that as well, but good ol' Ralph knew when to leave things alone. He gave a sigh and leaned a hand down to offer her a ride on his shoulder, "Alright, fine, let's get you back to Sugar Rush before anything else happens."

The trio of other Sugar Russians ran over, eager to get home after their wild night, but Vanellope shook her head, "Wait guys, we still have a missing racer!"

Felix looked at her questioningly and her friends shared a sheepish glance, Tamora was the one who asked though, "What do you mean you're missing a racer?"

"Tofferita Chococream," Tapper answered, "One of their new unlockable racers."

"I know her." The Sergeant replied, "She's missing?"

"How do you know her?" Felix asked, but didn't get an answer before Vanellope started explaining the situation that had lead them to Tapper's to begin with.

"There was a bit of a disagreement on the Raceway earlier, Toffee took off, Rancis owes her an apology, but none of us know where she went." She shrugged, "That's why we came here, we hoped maybe she went for one of Tap's best to calm her down."

Tamora looked at her men, "Did any of you see her tonight?"

They shook their heads, but Lieutenant Chkalov spoke up, "I hear she's been hanging out with the group from that new Half-something-game, perhaps she's there?"

That Felix had heard of, "Half-Light Nexus?" Chkalov nodded, "What would a Sugar Rush racer want in a game like that?" He mused aloud. From what he heard the game was really dangerous, some nights the characters didn't even leave their world because they were busy trying to keep their enemies at bay, or something like that, but the point was it was dangerous.

"Tofferita's a bit of a sci-fi nut," Tamora explained, "Any game with different planets, space ships, and aliens she was completely fascinated with. She used to come talk to us after arcade hours, but when we wouldn't let her come to Hero's Duty and see the Cybug eggs for herself she sort of moved on."

"You don't think those Half-Light losers are letting her scrounge around their game, do you?" Chkalov asked, the rest of the corps started chuckling, even Tamora, with that little sparkle that made Felix uneasy again. In a moment however, the Sergeant seemed to realize this wasn't funny and ordered silence among the men, flashing a guilty look to her husband, knowing he didn't approve of making fun of other games in such a manner.

"Alright ladies, this ain't no laughing matter!" She said putting her hands on her hips, "Chklov, you're with me to check out Half-Light! Markowski take those two and patrol the station, talk to anyone you see from a sci-fi action game, see if anyone knows where she is. The rest of you go with Kohut and visit games, ask for Toffee if she's there bring'er out. Let's move it out!"

The plan made, everyone hopped on the train out of Tapper's and followed their orders, Felix and Ralph went with Calhoun, while the Sugar Rush racers opted to remain in the station with Markowski's group to avoid any other unpleasant encounters. They would keep in radio contact the whole time in case some one found her, or at least a lead. Felix remained with his wife because, well, they were married, the hours after the arcade closed were supposed to be their time together. A little amber alert didn't have to spoil their evenings, but when Felix took her hand with Lieutenant Chkalov walking beside, he felt more like a child standing between his parents than he felt like a married man.

"Somethin' wrong, Felix?" Ralph asked, noting how the shorter man had his eyes to the floor instead of out in front of him.

Felix opened his mouth to answer, but the lieutenant answered for him, "Oh, I'm sure it's just been a long night, everyone's had a little too much excitement." Chkalov said, his strange eyes glistening with a mocking amusement.

Felix's mouth twitched down and the words he'd been about to say died in his throat, resulting in him making a nervous sound that was easily mistaken for a weary sigh. He didn't like Chkalov. And it wasn't any sort of jealousy one would expect for a man who could make his wife laugh like that (maybe a little)...There was just something about the lieutenant that was just...off. Something in Chkalov's eyes, those weird yellow-green eyes that didn't look like they belonged in Hero's Duty.

But Tamora didn't seem to be worried, and neither did any of her men. They all seemed perfectly at ease around him...And that just made Felix more nervous. After all, the people of Sugar Rush hadn't noticed anything wrong with the King that had ruled them for fifteen years. He squeezed Tamora's hand.

"Don't worry Felix, as soon as we find Toffee we'll go straight home. Ralph, why don't you join us?" She said, squeezing back. There was a hardness in her voice that Felix recognized, and was relieved to hear. Tamora had a feeling something wasn't right, and it was more than just the mysterious reappearance of Turbo.

"May I join you, Sergeant ?" Chkalov asked.

Tamora shook her head, "Oh, not this time lieutenant, perhaps another night that isn't quite as exciting." She said, not completely rejecting the idea, but Felix picked up on the implication she was making and smiled up at his wife.

This was one of his favorite things about her, she was so smart, Tamora had invited Ralph, but not Chkalov because now she was too was sensing something wrong with lieutenant Chkalov's presence among her ranks. Felix glanced back at Ralph and got a nod, "Sure, the meeting's gonna be over by the time we're all done here, I could use some company now that I know that creep is still running around."

That was what Ralph said, but what he meant was more or less 'something's up and we need to talk about it.' The uneasiness Felix had been carrying started to lift, Chkalov didn't seem to notice anything had transpired between his current companions. Maybe Felix was just a little too antsy, perhaps the thing with Turbo's return had just gotten him a little too worked up, thing would be back to normal before the arcade opened.

Tamora suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned around as if alarmed. "What is it?" Felix and Chkalov asked at the same time.

Tamora had a far away look in on her face, not quite like the way she did when she thought about her lost love Brad...but similar, she was definitely thinking of something from her past, and it had softened her face with longing "I thought I just saw..." her eyes narrowed again and she shook her head, her normal countenance returned, "Never mind. This is Half-Light Nexus, let's get going."

Okay, maybe 'normal countenance' wasn't the right word, Tamora actually seemed to be upset now. Felix would have asked, but he knew his wife's mannerisms, now was not a good time to press her. Unfortunately, someone else wasn't as familiar with Tamora. "What's wrong, Sergeant ?" Chkalov inquired.

Tamora turned to him and snapped, "I said _never mind_! Let's just go and see if Toffee's in this game and go!" Chkalov backed up a step as if not used to having someone scream in his face. Tamora turned back around and stomped right into the game. The train ride was spent in the most tense silence the nigh had offered yet. Ralph was still fuming about Turbo, Tamora was upset about what she thought she had seen a moment ago, Felix was starting to worry about the whole situation, and Chkalov sat at the end of the train with a contemplative look on his face, like he was deep in thought about something.

The train pulled in to a city, the burning buildings stood tall and two statues guarded the exit into the station. Overhead, ship and explosions decorated a blood colored sky, on the horizon a massive ship floated over the ocean. Felix and Ralph gaped at the massive world, even Tamora and Chkalov seemed to be impressed, "Well, this place is certainly more exciting than I thought." The Sergeant said putting her hands on her hips and taking in the scenery and not even flinching when one of the ship exploded mid-air.

Felix jumped and covered his ears "Jeepers," he said when he straightened, "I don't think a racer would last long in this game, maybe we should go back?"

"I don't know, we should at least ask if anyone knows her first." She replied.

"Ask _who_?" Ralph said waving a hand to sky, "I think everyone we can talk to is up there."

As he said it, however, a bright blue blast almost blew the wrecker off his feet. The group coughed as smoke filled their lungs and ran away from the debris. The clear air only made them realize they were suddenly surrounded. A platoon of creatures that towered over even Ralph stood around the new comers holding weapons, making clicking and gurgling noises.

"How about them?" Chkalov said raising his weapon in challenge, but lowering it again when one of the monster's weapons started to warm up and he was hissed at.

"Put down your weapons." Felix suggested, though she was clearly reluctant to do so, Tamora complied and shot the lieutenant a look that made him do the same. They both gave him a glance that read _now what_, and Felix stepped forward with his hands raised in surrender. His action was met with snarling and gurgling, but little else.

"H-hello, I'm Fix-It Felix Jr from the game Fix-it Felix Jr." He said with a friendly tone, and gestured to the others, "These are my companions, Wreck-it Ralph, same game, Sergeant Calhoun and Lieutenant Chkalov from Hero's Duty. We are looking for a little girl named Tofferita Chococream, we head she likes to hang out here, have you seen her?"

The creatures didn't move, but only continued to gurgle. Felix continued, "We'll leave as soon as we find her, provided she _is_ here, of course." Felix offered, more of the monsters were starting to gather and Felix was beginning to regret requesting the soldiers put their weapons down. The creatures hadn't even lowered theirs, Felix tried his best to remain positive, but he was sure they could see him tremble, "Well, I suppose if she were here you would have told us by now, so we'll just be on our wa-"

He was cut off when one of the aliens charged him, it's mouth open to reveal several rows of small sharp teeth. Felix began to cry out, but Ralph's huge fist collided with the creature's face, Tamora and Chkalov dived for their dropped guns, and pulled free smaller side arms to blast a few of them away. Felix hopped out of the danger zone while the creatures a fought back. The situation looked bleak since they were surrounded and out gunned.

Then suddenly the aliens all wobbled in their steps and dropped.

Blinking the group glanced at each other, Chkalov leaned over and checked one. "Dead." He confirmed.

"But how?" Ralph asked. Some of the ships started to fall out of the sky while the remaining gathered together in a victorious pattern, surrounding one ship in particular. Felix thought his eyes were playing a trick on him, just flying in line with the sun, but as he looked on it appeared that the center ship was carrying a ball of light.

The dead alien bodies disappeared and Tamora pointed to a large building that appeared to be where the ships were headed, "C'mon!" She said, and just like that they were running. As they approached a light suddenly burst from the building and flowed over the entire city, perhaps the whole game. Felix covered his eyes again and ran into Tamora's leg when she stopped, "What was that?" She asked.

From all around them a cheer roared up. People started coming out of the building, crying out in joy and clapping their hands. Someone clapped Ralph on the shoulder and the group continued toward the building. Several people were exiting as they finally reached it, waving and smiling at the crowds. On the shoulder of one of the heroes was a small figure who also waved at the crowd.

"_Tofferita Chococream_!" Tamora called out, she sounded irritated and ran to meet them.

"Huh? Sergeant, what are you doing here?" The little racer said as they reached her.

"Looking for you!" She spat back, "What are _you_ doing here? Are you out of your tiny mind!?"

Tofferia looked like she might start crying, but the woman who's shoulder she was currently riding glared at Tamora, "Don't talk to her like that!" This heroine was shorter that Calhoun by a couple of inches with dark brown-blond hair, though the bangs had been dyed red.

Tamora ignored her, "Toffee, Vanellope has been looking all over for you! You don't belong in a game like this-"

"I said _don't talk to her like that!_" The woman repeated pulling a knife out and pointing it at Tamora's throat, the rest of the platoon all rose weapons to them as well making everyone tense up. Felix frowned, boy and they'd thought it would be easy after they found the racer.

"Sergeant!" Chkalov gasped.

"Excuse me, but who do you think you are!?" Tamora growled eying the weapons pointed at her.

"I am Commander in Chief Kathly Thomka, and I believe that means I outrank you, _Sergeant_." She hissed, "And seeing as this is _my_ game, _I _decide who belongs here and who doesn't!"

Felix's mouth dropped a little as he finally noted that Tofferita Chococream was wearing a much smaller version of the uniform that the Half-Light heroes were donning. Ralph raised an eyebrow, "Are you serious?" He voiced what they were all thinking.

Thomka glared at him, "Toffee is an amazing aviator, we are honored to have her among our ranks. She's a _hero_." Ralph's feature's softened a bit, and on the Commander's shoulder, Tofferita's face turned red.

"Commander!" She exclaimed with delight a little heart graphic flew by her head and popped.

"She's a _racer_." Tamora said calmly, "She belongs in _Sugar Rush_. The president has been looking for her and has assured me that Rancis Fluggerbutter will apologize for the way he acted on the track, but you have got to come back."

Thomka lowered her weapon, and the racer on her shoulder stuck her tongue out, "Of course I'm going back, you didn't think I was gonna move here forever, did you?" She hopped to the ground, doing a little back flip and wobbling on her feet when she landed like she might fall over. She put her arms out to balance her. She pushed a button on her uniform and it turned into a backpack which she slung over her shoulders "So, Fancy-Rancy's under orders to apologize to me, huh? That'll be fun. Hey, do you guys wanna come with so he's gotta apologize at gunpoint? I can show you guys' my baby!"

Felix looked like he would faint, but the Aviators all laughed, "We'd love to visit your world! What did you say your car was called?"

"_Kart_!" Toffee corrected, leading them toward the exit. "And it's called the Red Tux!"

Felix understood instantly, the people of this world generally liked Tofferita Chococream and she liked them. To them, the racer joining their game after hours was no different than Ralph going to see Vanellope race. It was a powerful hard earned friendship that he could completely support of this game wasn't so dangerous. He supposed deep down Tamora knew this as well, but it had been a long night and whatever had set her off earlier was still bugging her, but they left the game with not further problems.

After contacting everyone to say that the racer had been found, everyone met outside Sugar Rush, where true to word, Rancis apologized. He wasn't exactly at gun point, but the aviators did make it obvious that they were armed when they surrounded the Reese's themed racer. "I-I'm sorry Tofferita." Rancis stuttered glancing nervously up at the other racer who had returned to her perch on the commander's shoulder.

"For...?" She said making a 'more' motion with her fingers.

The aviators shifted a bit, making Rancis flinch anxiously before answering, "For p-pushing you in the mud and saying nobody wants you..." He added miserably.

The group glared at him, but Tofferita continued, "And...?" Rancis blinked in confusion, obviously thinking there was nothing else to apologize for. Toffee hopped down with more grace than the first time. "What was the other thing you said to me...?" The pessimistic racer hinted.

Rancis still didn't seem to have a clue and glanced over to Vanellope, who mouthed 'You shouldn't have been...'

"And for saying that you shouldn't have been unlocked." He finally said, "I was out of line and if it makes you feel better you can push me in the mud when we get back to Sugar Rush." He added needlessly, with a charming smile and big begging eyes, probably thinking Toffee would say forgiven and forgotten.

And maybe she would have, but Thomka laughed, "We'll hold you to that. Come on, let's go see."

"What?" Rancis gasped and looked desperately at the aviators who began walking toward Sugar Rush. "They're not really coming with us, are they?" He asked.

"I invited them to could come see my kart." Tofferita said with a wink and an amused grin. She skipped off after them, "Slow down guys, you aren't gonna know which kart is mine unless I show you!"

Rancis groaned while Taffyta and Candlehead snickered, "It'll take forever to get mud outta my clothes!" He complained, even though it really wouldn't.

"Then you shouldn't have told her she could push you in the mud!" Taffyta teased, "I hope the big guys let us watch!"

"Yeah!" Candlehead agreed, the girls grabbed Rancis by one are each and dragged him back toward Sugar Rush with him complaining the whole way.

Vanellope started to follow but Ralph held her back for a moment, "Calhoun's gonna come over so me an' Felix can talk about what's been happening tonight, wanna join us?" Felix was often impressed by how clever Ralph could be, though his invitation to Vanellope was genuine, Felix also knew the wrecker was using it to make Chkalov feel less excluded. It now seemed like they wanted to talk about Turbo's return as the group that had defeated him.

That was what Vanellope got from it, and she shook her head, "Nah, sorry Ralph, maybe sometime later, but right now I don't want to talk about it." She said putting her lace back in her mouth and chewing on it before she smiled and pointed her thumb back at Sugar rush and the characters who were heading there, "Besides, I gotta make sure those goofballs don't blow up my game! Seeya later Stinkbrain!" She laughed and skipped off.

"Later, Lady Loud mouth!" He waved.

"Lieutenant!" Tamora said sharply.

Chkalov straightened up, "Yes, Sergeant?"

"Inform the men that I will be at Felix's for the remainder to the night and be sure everyone backs to Hero's Duty before the arcade opens. I will join you at 0600." She ordered and began walking away without an answered,

"Yes, Sergeant!" He nodded anyway and pulled out his radio to spread the word.

Felix and Ralph caught up with Tamora and their discussion about Chkalov began on the train into Fix-it Felix Jr. "How long has he been in Hero's Duty?" Ralph asked.

"I remember him always being there." Tamora replied folding her arms angrily, "Dammit, I can't even imagine what Hero's Duty would be like without Chkalov!" She growled.

"He's made himself that important?" Felix raised an eyebrow, "Won't Gamers notice?"

Tamora blushed, "Oh! No! I didn't mean to the game, but to the corps. He is-er he's _made_ himself my right hand man. When I'm out with you, he's in charge. He's smart, he's funny, an amazing shot, and a real gentleman. Dammit, when was the last time you saw all of us together!?"

"Ummm, not since the wedding." Ralph answered.

"I think the last time I talked to the whole group was about three weeks ago. I don't remember him there." Felix said, taking off his hat and brushing his hair back.

The train pulled in and Tamora stood angrily, "That's a three week window the bastard could have programmed himself in and I didn't even notice!" She hissed.

Ralph wiggled his way out of his seat, "Easy Calhoun," He said respectfully, "Let's try to remember that at least he didn't replace anyone in yer game. He didn't right? Who are the members of your corps?"

Tamora glared at him a moment, but her face softened a bit, and she listed off the men in her squad. "Did I forget anyone?"

"No. That's everybody." Felix told her, then he smiled, "And at least he didn't alter your out of game memory." He added touching the ring on his finger. "I don't know, maybe Chkalov doesn't mean any harm, he could just be a poor fellow who's game was unplugged and he needed a new home but was afraid to ask."

Tamora still frowned, but there was a gentleness in her eyes that let him know she understood his point. "Maybe. He hasn't made any notifiable alterations, at least as far as gameplay goes. I'm still the only character the Gamer's really interact with."

"I'd keep an eye on 'im anyway." Ralph said, the couple looked at him, "This guy appears and Turbo comes back within three weeks of each other? I don't know, it seems fishy to me."

"Should I talk to him then?" Tamora asked.

Felix shook his head, "If he's capable of making you believe he belongs there, he's capable of lying to you. You know he isn't from the game now, just keep that in mind and if he ever seems to have more on his mind than just shooting Cybugs come talk to us and we'll figure something out."

Tamora nodded. Ralph yawned and stretched, "Well, sounds like we got this figured out. I wanna talk to Vanellope about what happened with Turbo tomorrow and we'll see if maybe there's some kinda connection then. G'night Felix, night Calhoun." He said turning toward his home, in the new line of apartments that had been built for him and the characters they'd invited for bonus levels.

"Good night Ralph." Felix answered.

"Night, Junkpile." Tamora took Felix's hand, then suddenly picked him up with a smile, "So Fix-It, shall we continue where we left off?"

Felix blushed, "I hope you mean to go back to the bedroom first." He teased, "I'm not comfortable continuing out here!"

"Oh, party pooper." She said and kissed him, "Alright, we'll do this your way..." she said and carried him back toward the building.

Felix laughed and kissed her cheek, "You know what Tammy. I think everything's gonna be fine after we find out what Turbo's up too. Chkalov or no Chkalov, I bet everything's back to normal by the end of the week!"

As the happy couple returned to their room, they had no reason to even suspect that they were letting something far worse than Turbo run free in in Game Central Station.

**Author's End note:** Thank you fore reading, I hope you enjoyed that chapter, please review and tell me what you think or submit a character for a possible cameo.


	6. Tensions Rising

**Author's Note: **Welcome back, as I said in the first chapter, some things from this fic are based on threads from my RP blog cy-kingturbo on Tumblr, I want to make it clear that the back story I give Turbo in the fic shares only a few details with my RP version, just in case anyone accuses me of just rewriting RP scenes**  
Warning: **Language**  
Disclaimer: **None of the characters in this chapter belong to me aside from brief mentions of Toffee and a few filler characters. There is a cameo of a character named Rae who belongs to**RobinsInTheSkye**

Break with the Past

After a long day of racing, Vanellope parked her kart at the finish line. The last gamer to play had chosen Tofferita as her avatar and had claimed the final trophy of the day before the roster race, which Vanellope noticed, Toffee had not entered. The other racer was nowhere to be seen, so Vanellope guessed she'd gone off to that science fiction game to visit her friends. Since she was out with people she trusted it technically didn't violate the rule about leaving Sugar Rush, but the President still at least wished Toffee had said something before she left.

It was several minutes still before the roster was completely filled, once again Rancis just barely didn't make it, loosing to yet another recolor at the last possible second. He still seemed upset about it, but at least he seemed to have learned his lesson from last night and just hopped out of his cart and shook hands with the Taffyta recolor that had bested him.

"Alright guys! Congratulations to all the roster winners, and boy what a great day of racing!" Vanellope called, quickly and not very spiritedly "Rest up and be ready to race tomorrow! No fighting!" She added this on at the last second as she stepped a couple spaces back, she was in a hurry, and she thought perhaps after what happened last night the racers would behave themselves. After only waiting for a few 'yeah, okays' from the racers she turned around and ran to the exit to Game Central Station, presumably to visit Ralph.

At the station, Vanellope made sure that none of the racers were where they could see her break her own rule, and headed for Burger Time where she had agreed to meet Turbo to hear his story. She really didn't want to go, she didn't care what he had to say or want to hear any of his excuses but...at the same time she _needed_ to know. Why Sugar Rush out of all the racing games in the arcade? Why did he take out _her_ codes, not someone else? And if he hadn't intended to take over or turn her into a glitch like he claimed, what had he meant to do?

The train into Burger Time was filled with hungry characters who wanted one of the legendary burgers made by the game's lead character Chef Peter Pepper, and Vanellope wondered if Turbo had picked this game because he knew there would be a lot of people there. Was this his way of trying to convince her to trust him? No matter, the fact was that if he tried anything at least there would someone around to help, whether Turbo had thought about this or not.

In game play Burger Time was a maze which players had to help the chief navigate to collect ingredients for his burgers, but after hours there was a running restaurant with a few small buildings to either side and that was it for the world. Vanellope hopped off her seat and used her glitching ability to move through the crowd and onto the station platform. Turbo's instructions had been to meet him at the game, and come alone, but he hadn't said if they were meeting at the station, in the restaurant or at one of the other buildings, Vanellope hadn't asked either so they were both sort of to blame for this, but what now? Should she wait, or go looking for him? Or what if he had been waiting while she was in the roster race, decided she wasn't coming and left?

The people coming off the train finally cleared off, so did the people who had waited to get on, and Vanellope soon found herself alone on the platform. Glancing around she saw no one waiting for her and decided to check the restaurant. As soon as she entered, her nostrils filled with wonderful aromas of more than just burgers and her mouth watered a bit. There were dozens of tables and a lot of different characters sitting at each of them, talking and laughing, but Vanellope didn't see Turbo anywhere. She was just about to turn around and check one of the other buildings when she was tapped on the shoulder. Vanellope turned around and gave a short shriek upon seeing Turbo standing right next to her, she must have walked right passed him and not even noticed!

To be fair, it wasn't like he was immediately recognizable. The former racer looked more like a stereotypical private investigator, he was wearing a black trench coat that was a little long on him, a hat and sunglasses which he had to keep pushing up in order to hide his strangely colored eyes. If there weren't other characters in the restaurant that dressed similarly, he certainly would have looked like he was up to no good. Did he on plan that or was he just lucky?

Turbo put a finger to his lips in a shhhing motion, and beckoned her to follow him toward a table in the back, not before a flash of red data broke out over his face, transforming him into a more familiar figure, King Candy, for a few seconds before changing back. Turbo looked a little nervous, and Vanellope noticed him glancing around.

"HEY! I ordered, like, fifteen minutes ago! Why's it taking so long?!" A character seated at the table next to the one Turbo had taken them to. She was a character from the Sonic universe as far as Vanellope could tell, but no one she could immediately place.  
"I'm sorry miss Rae, we've been unusually busy tonight, Chef Pepper will have your order out shortly, in the meantime is there anything else I can do for you?" The waiter attending her asked.  
"As a matter of fact, yeah, you can! You can tell me who the heck you are. I've been coming here for years and I've never seen you before. I don't like things I've never seen before," The Hedgehog character replied, causing Vanellope to glance over curiously and see the girl fingering a set of knives at her side.  
The waiter held his pad closer to his chest, "Terribly sorry miss Rae, as I said we've been unusually busy, this time of night I wouldn't normally be working." Maybe it was Vanellope's imagination, but she thought she saw the man glance up at look directly at Turbo before looking back at Rae.  
The customer gave a loud sigh, "Fine, whatever, but if my order doesn't come in five minutes, I'm outta here. This is a waste of what little time I have out of stupid Crisis City ..."  
"I understand miss Rae," He said as he started to back away, "I'll get right on it..."  
She held up one of her knives and waved it after him in a threatening gesture, "And don't you DARE call me 'miss Rae', otherwise, so help me, I will throw this thing at your head, and I won't MISS. GOT IT?!" She concluded.

Turbo coughed to take Vanellope's attention off their neighbor, she looked back at him, he'd taken the sunglasses off and he glitched back into his King Candy form again, but this time there was something off about it. His face had purple markings all over it, which from Ralph's description of what had happened on Diet Cola Mountain, Vanellope could only guess had something to do with the Cybug that he had become.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"I'm F1n3." Turbo replied, although he didn't look like it. Because of the way his face had broken up his voice was a little distorted, he was still glancing around a lot and jumping at every sound. His form settled again to his wannabe P.I disguise, "This wasn't a good idea..." he muttered, more to himself than Vanellope.

She tapped her foot irritably, "Too many people in here for you to be comfortable?" she smirked.

He glanced up at her, following another glitch he answered, "Yes and no. Look, you probably heard about the Cybug thing right?" She nodded, Ralph had explained everything and Vanellope had been terrified to know that a few seconds longer and the Cybrid monster could have been _her_. "Well Sweettart, that data is still inside me, and it smells food. If that back up in the kitchen doesn't get moving real quick things could turn nasty." Turbo explained.

"What are you saying?" Vanellope blinked.

"I'm sAyiNg if 7his doe5n'T st0p sooN, bUrgers ar3n't g0nna be tHe onlY th1ng on the MeNu." He replied rather sharply and then bit his lower lip, drawing blood, "5orrY."

"Oh." She didn't really understand, did he mean that he would change back into the Cybug any minute now? How, what could she do to stop it? They sat in silence for several minutes while the ex-racer almost literally tried to pull himself back together. Turbo didn't look good, in fact he actually looked like he might be sick as he kept glancing around and flashing between forms, trying very hard to stop it or at least not draw attention to it. Was that what she looked like when she couldn't control her glitch? Not so fun, was it?

Whatever, she wouldn't get her answers if he kept fidgeting around and not talking. Vanellope reached over and touched Turbo's hand, making him freeze and stare at her, "Hey, focus, will ya? I didn't come all this way to have you freak out on me." Turbo didn't say anything for a few seconds, but his glitching seemed to calm and he nodded.

Okay, obviously what was happening to Turbo wasn't a glitch or else he wouldn't be able to leave any games, let alone enter one, but what else was she supposed to call it? The glitching didn't stop, only slowed as Turbo opened his mouth to speak when suddenly their neighbor made an irritated sound, got up and, as promised, left the building without her burger.

Which was unfortunate, because moments after the door swung shut behind her the waiter attending the character stepped out from the kitchen's with a large platter that carried a gourmet burger, fries and a large drink. The poor server made it all the way to Rae's former table before he noticed she was no longer there and groaned loudly.

Vanellope waved to him, "Hey, we'll take that over here!" She offered, the waiter gave her a smile and set the plate on their table, giving it to them free of charge to apologize for the wait they would have suffered. He looked directly at Turbo again and almost seemed to nod at him, before returning to the kitchen. "Well, he seems nice, but I think that girl was right I've never seen him here before."

Turbo muttered something and glitched again. Vanellope pushed the plate toward him, about to tell him to eat the burger before things 'got worse' as he worried would happen, but she'd barely opened her mouth when those markings reappeared on Turbos face. He snatched up the hamburger and tore into it with the vigor of a predator on a carcass, almost as if unaware of what he was doing. It was gone in seconds, and in a blink, so were the markings.

"Wasn't there just a-" Turbos started staring at the plate in confusion.

"You just ate it." Vanellope rolled her eyes, but saw the concern gloss over Turbo's face. "What's up with this Cybug data?" She asked and picked up a french fry to munch on.

Turbo didn't answer for a moment, "We didn't meet here to talk about that." He said at last, "We came here so I could tell you about Sugar Rush, but before I begin, I need to ask you something..."

Vanellope finished the fry, "You're gonna tell me why you took over my game, what could you possibly need to ask me? Not to be mad at you for it?"

Turbo glared at her, but asked, "What do you know about me and what happened with Roadblasters?"

The question confused the president, Turbo got jealous and tried to take over the new game, then did the same thing to hers, only that time he succeeded. "I know exactly what happened." She answered.

"Do you? Do you know what really happened, or just what people told you happened?" He asked, still glaring at her and Vanellope noticed something glimmer at the corner of his eyes, "If you know what happened, how many people made it out of Turbotime before it was unplugged?"

Vanellope opened her mouth and closed it again, "After you tried to take over Roadblasters both games got unplugged and you were the only survivor...?" her answer didn't sound convincing and Turbo only frowned at her.

"Wrong. Four of us made it out." He answered and crossed his arms, his glare narrowing further, "And I _didn't_ try to_ take over_ Roadblasters, okay? I only tried to sabotage it!"

That didn't sound much better, but before Vanellope could question his morals Turbo continued, "Let me tell you about Turbotime, alright? We didn't have the avatar system you've got in Sugar Rush, I was the only playable character, everyone else was an NPC. I always had to race the twins, Split and Haste, but if a gamer got a high enough score they could unlock one of the bonus racers. We all hated each other, the good fer nothing NPCs were always picking on me and saying I wasn't a real racer because I had to have the gamers help-"

"-What's this got to do with Sugar Rush?" Vanellope inquired, caring very little for the details about Turbo's game.

"You'll understand when I get there." He replied and then continued, "Anyway, the day Roadblasters got plugged in, yeah, I admit I was jealous, and pissed off that the gamers _abandoned_ me in the middle of a race. but you know what? The NPCs were scared, they thought that we were gonna get unplugged...The only thing I remember is somebody saying 'Turbo do something...'"

He trailed off, lost in thought, "So I did. I went over to Roadbasters and I blasted the road. Everyone talks about what happened like it was something I planned out to the final detail, but it wasn't. I wasn't thinking at all about what would happen after I sabotage the other game."

"When I got back the NPCs and I were getting along for the first time...ever really, but then Litwak put the Out of Order sign on our game. There was a lot of disagreement after that about who's fault it was and what to do next, in the end I left. Split and Haste, and the green bonus racer- mod I can't even remember her name- we were the only ones who decided to leave..."

"It wasn't long before we heard what people were saying about me, and Double-oh, right, that was her name- Double thought it best I stay hidden. That's when we found the underground. I stayed out of sight and the others tried to get help. No one really wanted to give it because of what I'd done, but there were a few people who were willing to give them a hand."

He looked her in directly in the eyes for the first time. "Do you have any idea what it's like to have everyone you thought were your friends just suddenly turn their backs on you? Turns out I didn't mean anything to anyone, nobody cared about _me_, just the fact that I was popular with the gamers..."

Vanellope wanted to argue that she knew exactly what that was like since everyone in Sugar Rush had treated her like she was a freak because of what he'd done, but that really wasn't the same. No one in Sugar Rush remembered that she was supposed to be their leader, Turbo had been abandoned because of rumors and hearsay. He still had those characters from his game that had left with him though, what had happened to them? "I'm sorry." she ended up saying, and had to admit, she did feel a pretty bad for him.

Still didn't justify what he did to her.

"Eventually Split and Haste started falling back into some old habits, picking on me whenever we saw each other then blaming me for what happened, it was like they were starting to believe the stories they were hearing, even though they knew the truth. We had a huge fight, Double told them to get lost and never come back."

Turbo paused in his narrative to start picking at the french fries, only now Vanellope realized she'd already eaten just over half of them.."Split returned a few weeks later, Haste had been killed in an accident in another game. Double tried to console him, but he just wasn't the same after his brother died, and he sort of wasted away. Then me and Double had a fight, I don't remember over what, but I never saw her again. That was twenty years ago, and I would have heard something about her from my friends if she were alive, but I haven't so she must be dead."

"What friends?" Vanellope asked.

Turbo gave the vaguest of answers, "I wasn't the only person no one wanted to help so we started gathering together and decided to help each other. I used to hack Turbotime's codes all the time, just to mess with the NPCs after hours when they picked on me, and before we left I'd taken out everybody's code boxes to be safe, but I'd never done anything like put my code in another game until Sugar Rush."

"Finally the part that's important." Vanellope sighed scooting forward a bit.

Her comment earned her another glare, "All of that was important. You realize that by that point I had lost _everything_ and _everyone_. I was desperate-"

"-And that justifies you taking everything and everyone from me?" Vanellope demanded perhaps a little too loudly, but she was very angry that he thought this sad story could even remotely make up for the fifteen years she had spent alone and hated because of him.

"Newsflash sweettart, that wasn't what I planned to do!"He snapped back.

"Don't call me sweettart!"

Turbo's hand went into one of his pockets and gripped something, he was silent for a moment but his grip relaxed and his hand came back out with nothing in it. "I was in Sugar Rush for three days before I turned you into a glitch, okay?" He said, "Believe it or not we actually hit it off pretty well. I told you my game had been unplugged and no one wanted to help me. I _asked_ you if I could join your game."

This news shocked Vanellope, she didn't have any memory of this so she had no idea if he was lying or not. "You what?"

"I _asked_ you." Turbo repeated, "And you said 'yes'. You gave me the skin-code for King Candy, you know he was supposed to be the leader of the game, but the programmers decided to scrap the character and put a princess in charge instead? That's what you told me at least."

There was too much detail in this explanation for it to be a lie. "That was day one at least. I couldn't race that day because we'd spent the night trying to fix the skin to my code, get me into the game, and modifying the Racers memories so they would accept me as a character." Turbo's voice softened a bit as he spoke, as if reliving a memory he looked back on with fondness, "It was going well until the roster race. Actually the race was fine, it was incredible actually, the best ever, until you crossed the finish line-"

"And the game reset?" Vanellope guessed.

Turbo nodded, "The moment you crossed that finish line the King Candy code vanished and everyone saw me as a fraud, a pretender to the thrown-"

"Which you were-"

"With your permission." Turbo glared at her again.

"So then you removed my codes and took over?" Vanellope asked sticking her tongue out at the older racer.

Turbo stuck his tongue out at her in response, "No, once you got the mob settled we went back to the castle to try it again. No matter what we did we just couldn't get my codes to stay in the game once you crossed the finish line. That was Day two."

"And what happened on day three that you had to turn me into a glitch." She scooted closer again.

"By day three I'd figured out that in order to keep me in the game we would have to remove someone else." he answered.

"Why me? I thought you said we were getting along!"

"I wasn't going to!" Turbo put his hands up, "Listen, I had no idea what to do and was running out of options. On day three one of the other Racers left Sugar Rush and heard about what I supposedly did to Roadblasters."

"And?"

"And you were pissed! I tried to explain but you kept saying I had lied to you, and then told me to get out of Sugar Rush and never come back." Turbo shrugged, and sighed sadly "I was so angry that I went to the code room and just started pulling out wires, I destroyed everyone's memory of you and put me back in charge again. Just like Roadblasters all over again, I just did something and didn't think about what would happen after. It wasn't the right thing to do, but it was the only thing I could think to do."

If this was the truth...Vanellope didn't know what to think. His story about the other characters from his game, getting Roadblasters unplugged, and then loosing it after she told him leave her game...It didn't mean that what he did was okay and at least he seemed to be admitting it was wrong. "So you turned me into a glitch to get back at me for sending you packing." Would she have if she'd known what he'd been through?

"No I destroyed everyone's memory of you to get back at you for that. I didn't turn you into a glitch until a little while later." Turbo explained, and took one of the remaining french fries, "I did cool down after a while, but I couldn't just put back memories that I destroyed, it was no use trying to clean up that mess, but I knew that if you crossed the finish line again everyone would remember that you were the princess..."

"So why turn me into a glitch?" She asked, starting to get confused. Turbo's voice had got quieter as he spoke and Vanellope sensed that there was something he wasn't telling her.

"So you wouldn't be able to leave Sugar Rush." Turbo replied, "Look, in order for me to stay where I was, I needed you to stay out of the way, but if for any reason I had to leave Sugar Rush the _real_ leader needed to be where I could reach her."

Turbo leaned back a bit, "Okay imagine that I needed to escape, maybe somebody had uncovered who I was, I don't know, but just imagine I had to get out of Sugar Rush. If you were able to leave the game you would have, wouldn't you?" She nodded, "With you as a glitch unable to leave the game, I would always know that you were there somewhere. If I needed to get away I couldn't just leave the game without a leader, otherwise those brats would tear each other apart- don't look at me like that! They're brats and you know it! Surely you've gotten a racer induced headache by now, right?"

Again Vanellope nodded thinking about the incident just the night before when she had actually wondered if Turbo had ever had to put up with some of the petty fighting the racers did.

"So all I'd need to do would be invite you to...shall we say, 'prove yourself' as a racer, and the moment you crossed the finish line everyone would remember you were the princess and I would just slip away unnoticed never to be seen again." Vanellope still felt like there was something he was leaving unsaid, Turbo kept putting his hand in his pocket and then taking it out again.

This explained a lot and sounded like a pretty well thought out plan, why hadn't he stuck with it when Ralph came into Sugar Rush? Turbo seemed to have read her mind, "I was in Sugar Rush for fifteen years, you don't think I didn't get attached to the game? If I'd known Ralph had come back and helped you before the race started I would have bailed then and there, but..."

"Yeah, I saw the look on your face. It was awesome!" Vanellope snickered. "At least until you were trying to kill me."

"I wasn't trying to kill you."

"Really? 'Cause trying to hit me with that thing and driving me into the wall seems like an awfully weird way of saying you love me and wanna make up for ruining my life." She rolled her eyes.

Turbo stared at her with his mouth opening and closing a couple of times, searching for something to say back, but failing. Vanellope smirked at him and noticed his hand was in his pocket yet again, what was he hiding in there? "...I only meant to destroy the kart..." He said quietly, not looking her in the eye. Obviously he knew that wasn't an excuse but he still had nothing else to say for himself about it.

Vanellope wondered what exactly he'd thought was going to happen after he crashed their karts into the wall, obviously his own kart would have taken damage and maybe he would have been killed. Also, she'd _gotten away_. What was his plan after that? Pretending that the Cybugs hadn't invaded Sugar Rush, would he have chased her down to the finish line to try and stop her or would he have tried to escape the game while he'd had the chance?

Again Turbo seemed to know what was on her mind, but he made no comment because Cybugs _had_ invaded Sugar Rush, and he had been consumed by one. His body glitched again, "So what's with this Cybug data?" Vanellope asked. She'd wanted an explanation about Turbo's actions, she'd gotten it, they'd never discussed if that meant whether or not she was supposed to forgive him or send him packing (again?). For some reason Vanellope still felt like Turbo was leaving something out of his story.

Turbo looked up at her again, "I told you, it's still attached to my code. Sometimes I'm more Cybug than racer, literally, I turn back into the Cybug. I can't always control it."

"Isn't there something you can do about that, like, can't you take that data out of your codebox Mr. Hacker?" She pointed out.

He didn't seem to appreciate her humor, "Of course I could, but I don't have my codebox anymore."

"You lost it?

"No, it's still in Sugar Rush, where else would it be?" He glowered and rolled his fingers against the table.

"Still in Sugar- Wait why didn't you take it with you when you left?" Vanellope asked, not that she wanted him anywhere near the code room after what he did.

"If I coulda I woulda." He replied irritatedly, "Look, I'm _stuck_ like this, I can't do anything without my code box and you wouldn't let me into Sugar Rush to go get it." There was silence for almost a full minute before Turbo added, "...Unless, you would?"

Vanellope stared at him like he'd grown a second head, "What, are you kidding? I wouldn't let you into my game in a million years after what you pulled!" She said angrily, and softened her tone, "Even if there really was no other option for you..." It was not right for him to do what he did, but after his story...Okay, she at least understood that he maybe didn't have a choice, but it was perfectly within her rights to be mad at him for it.

"No, hear me out." Turbo said, "Look, if you would just take me there and let me get my codebox, I swear I won't leave your sight, you'll supervise every move I make, I'll just get my codebox and be gone. I will leave you and Sugar Rush and you will never see me again." Something flashed across his eyes. Sadness? Well, he said he'd been attached to Sugar Rush but...

"And why in the world would I trust you?" Vanellope glared at him and crossed her arms.

"Really? I gave my word that I'd let you go last night, promised to meet you here to tell you about Sugar Rush and showed up, even though the whole arcade would probably tear me apart if they knew who I was, and you don't trust me?" He seemed offended.

Okay, sure, he'd let her go and coming here as promised was really risky for him, "That's not the same. You hacked the code for my game, took me out of it and now you're asking me to let you back in there, even though you've admitted you _already_ broke my trust regarding the code room once?"

Again his mouth opened and closed trying to respond, "You'll be with me the whole time." He repeated.

"Not in a million years Creepo." She answered.

"Vanellope my codebox is my only hope for _anything_." Turbo said desperately, "There's gotta be something I can do to make you trust me!"

Vanellope thought about it for a moment and recalled his story. If it were true at least, then that meant Turbo had a plan that involved righting his wrong (even if it was a last resort). Plus the racers had told her that King Candy had discouraged them from being mean to her. Maybe she was being a little harsh, and she'd been able to forgive the others for how they'd treated her...but at the same time, what he'd done just hurt too much. Maybe-

"Vanellope! There you are!" The president whirled around when she heard Taffyta's panicked voice. The pink racer was rushing across the restaurant towards them, Vanellope gave Turbo a nervous glance and found him putting his sunglasses back on. Taffyta panted when she finally reached the table, "S-sorry... to in-inter...upt your d-date-"

"-This isn't a date!" Vanellope squeaked and blushed and looked at Turbo again to see that he was blushing too and looking away.

Taffyta ignored the interjection, "I th-thought you w-were... gonna be at R-ralph's, but- do you mind...?" She pointed to the large soda that neither Vanellope nor her 'date' had touched, both of them shook their heads and Taffyta proceeded to drink half of it in one go before she continued, "Vanellope, we need you back in Sugar Rush! There's a fight!"

"What!?" Vanellope and Turbo gasped at the same time.

Taffyta took her hand and hauled Vanellope out of her seat, "C'mon, it's probably only gotten worse by now!"

Vanellope agreed that she had to get back right away, but shook her hand away from Taffyta and turned to Turbo, "Tapper's tomorrow." She said as ambiguously as possible, and realizing that her friend was probably going to think she was arranging another date quickly added, "We'll talk about what you asked there."

"Tapper's, got it." He replied with a nod, something in his voice suggested he wanted to go with and see what was happening, but thankfully he remained seated and Vanellope left with Taffyta who finished off the soda while they were on the train and explained what was happening.

At least to her own knowledge, "Okay, I wasn't actually there when it started, right? So I don't know what the problem is, but Rancis and one of the newbies are fighting-"

"What, Rancis again?" Vanellope asked rather disappointed, but Taffyta defended him.

"No! It's not his fault, that new S'mores guy was picking on Candlehead or something, I'm not sure, all I know is that when I got there Candlehead was on the ground crying with a couple of girls trying to comfort her and the boys were exchanging punches-"

"Punches!? You mean an _actual_ fight!?'" There had been arguments before, a lot of unnecessary name calling, and a few times people got pushed over, but those sort of things had been happening even before the new racers started showing up. There had never been any particularly violent encounters though.

Taffyta nodded, "That was all I saw before Snowanna sent me to go get you." she said worriedly, "And I thought you were gonna be at Ralph's but he was in GCS and said he hadn't seen you and we thought maybe you'd been kidnapped again but Kano said he'd seen you go into Burger time on his way out."

The train pulled into the station and they ran to get onto the one for Sugar Rush. They were pretty silent for that ride and Taffyta lead the way down towards the stadium where indeed there was a fight happening. Not only was it Rancis and the new characters, but now it seemed all of the male racers were involved in their own disputes, whether they were fighting arguing or just encouraging the others to fight. The female racers weren't innocent either, several were gathered around Candlehead who was crying out for the fight with Rancis to stop, many of them arguing, and others trying to break up the fights between the boys.

"That's enough!" Vanellope yelled. Some of them stopped immediately, mostly the people who were merely arguing, but several still continued. Vanellope shouted louder and a few people started yelling with her to announce that the president was here.

Finally the only fight that was still going on was the fight between Rancis and a racer Vanellope was able to identify as being named Graham Marshtruffle. While there had been a few people trying to break up other fights, this one had been left alone, both of them currently had bloody noses and each had a black eye at least one tooth missing. Rancis had Graham in a headlock, but the other boy was stomping on his toes and biting his arm.

Neither Rancis nor Graham had made it onto the roster and if the fight had something to do with Candlehead crying, Vanellope really didn't want to know what it was about. She charged over to them just as Rancis fell over and the two of them rolled in the dirt together. It took a moment but Vanellope managed to pry Graham off of Rancis and two other racers ran forward to hold them both back.

"Alright, that's enough from both of you! Apologize to each other this instant!" Vanellope ordered angrily.

"He hit me first!" Graham accused struggling in the grip of Torvald Batterbutter.

"I only hit him because he sai-" Rancis started also fighting against his own captor Nougestsia Brumblestain.

"Did I ask you what happened?" Vanellope snapped, "No! I said to apologize to each other, now _do it_!"

The boys glared at each other and looked at the ground but after another warning finally apologized but it was clear that neither of them meant it. Still, Vanellope was getting one of those racer induced headache Turbo had spoken of and decided this was enough. "Alright, it's all over. I don't want to hear anything else about this." She said.

"But Vanellope he-" Rancis began.

"I was only-" Graham tried to defend himself.

"I said I don't want to hear it. I don't care who started it, I'm finishing it right now!" She declared and nodded for the two recolored racers to release them.

"Vanellope..." Candlehead said meekly, the president turned to her, concerned because she knew the fight had somehow involved her. "I'm sorry Vanellope, this was my fault..." She said starting to cry again.

Vanellope went over to her and hushed her gently, "It's okay Candlehead, it's over now, don't cry." She assured.

Candlehead continued, between sobs. "I-I w-wa-was just s-saying that I th-th-thought-"

"Shhh, Candlehead no, you don't need to explain." She said trying to wipe her friend's tears away.

Tears continued to fall down the green-haired racer's cheeks and she closed her eyes, crying silently for a moment. Vanellope glanced around them and saw the others had divided into three groups. The Original racers, the newly Unlocked racers and the characters who had been let out before Vanellope's return to leadership, the last group had gathered near her and Candlehead. Looking at them it seemed like two armies preparing for war with a third standing back not sure which side to take.

It was surprisingly scary to see.

"C'mon guys, let's all call it a night and get some rest." She said to break the tension filled silence.

Everyone remained where they were for a few more moments before the group gathered around her broke apart and the other groups followed suit. They broke off into smaller groups, some started towards their homes or to Game Central Station to make the best out of what remained of the night. Vanellope hoped that by the time the arcade opened everyone would be over what had happened at they could just have a good time racing again.

She turned to Candlehead who still sniffed and wiped at her eyes, but appeared much calmer that a moment ago. "It's alright." Vanellope assured her again.

Candlehead nodded and turned away, following after Taffyta and Rancis who were going to the candy village to get Rancis cleaned up. She said something quietly, a private thought she's intended to keep to herself, but Vanellope still wound up overhearing.

"I wish King Candy were here..."

**Author's end note: **Thank you for reading, please remember to review and tell me what you think!


	7. Learning the Code

**Author's note:** I can't believe I have to say this but readers who are having trouble believing Turbo's story from the last chapter, please go reread the last chapter and consider these two facts: Turbo lied (convincingly) to Ralph in the movie, and that _Vanellope_ obviously doesn't believe his story. Once you have finished rereading please tell me if you honestly think I meant for _you_ to believe it.

**SECOND NOTE: **There is a second in the following chapter that is completely italicized and it's not supposed to be, but transfering the document and replacing the chapter didn't fix it, I don't know what the problem is, bear with me, I'm sorry.

**Warning: **OC focus. I know with the above note you probably want me to go back to Vanellope and Turbo for clarification, but this chapter takes place the same night as last chapter, whereas Turbo and Vanellope won't be meeting again until the following night. Continuity.

**Disclaimer: **Tofferita Chococream, The General, the world and characters of Half-Light Nexus and Kart Khaos belong to me. The world of Wreck-it Ralph and it's character are property of Disney. Characters belonging to the various other video game companies are not mine either.

Break with the Past

There was one rule that the aviators of Half-light Nexus insisted could never be broken: Never touch the Nexus with your bare hands.

The first time Tofferita had ever laid eye on it, she couldn't figure out why they thought it was necessary to grill her so hard about this rule and make her pinky swear that she would never do it. The Nexus was about the size of a beach ball, or at least to her, for bigger characters it was probably more like a dodge ball, and it blazed with golden light that Toffee had been sure was fire. Why in the world would she want to touch it with her bare hands?

The aviators said that, no, it wasn't fire, it was pure energy, but apparently it could still incinerate you. That was why their crafts, and the one they'd built for her, had been designed with a crane arm that was controlled via computer, to grab the Nexus and draw it into a specially constructed safe beneath the craft. After this explanation Toffee and reiterated: Why in the world would she want to touch it?

Now she guided her vessel carefully toward the ball of energy, keeping an eye out for any alien guards that might try to ambush her. The Nexus gave off an audible, otherworldly hum, and it's glow grew brighter as she neared. "That's right, I'm coming, just hold on." The Aviators often spoke of the Nexus as if it were a living thing, and she'd heard more than a few rumors in the city that it had a consciousness. To Toffee's own understanding, weirder things had happened, so why not a sentient sphere of energy?

Her crane arm lifted out, and the Nexus grew brighter again, not in a glaringly painful way, but in a warm welcoming gleam. The racer liked to think that this meant the Nexus was happy to see her. As the mechanical arm gently gasped the Nexus one of the alien ships entered the sector and blasted at the side of her craft, blowing it away from the pedestal on which the Nexus was displayed. Fortunately for the racer, she'd already had a good grip on the ball of energy, and the blast tore the Nexus from it's spot, severing the connection between the alien hive mind and it's drones. The alien dropped dead in it's ship and crashed into a wall.

Toffee's ship had been hit pretty bad, but her assessment of the damage concluded she would still be able to fly and instead the racer looked at the Nexus, "Sorry, didn't see him." The Nexus shimmered which she took to mean it understood, that is, _if_ it was alive somehow. Weirder things had happened.

"Private Chococream to flock: I've got the Nexus, but my navigation was hit on the way in." She said into her microphone, "I also got blasted pretty bad a moment ago, could someone come in and guide me outta here in case my engines go out?"

"Right away Private." Commander Thomka replied.

Toffee smiled and took her hands off her controls for a few seconds to run her fingers over the emblem that had been sewn into her uniform. It was a geometrical figure made up of triangular shapes, diamond points, and other sharp angles that Tofferita had once made the mistake of calling a star and received a ten minute lecture about how it was actually a bird. Toffee glanced down at it now, after last night's encounter with Sergeant Calhoun and the other guy from Hero's Duty, the Aviators had said they were _proud_ to include her as one of them, Toffee thought she couldn't get any happier but when she returned tonight there had been a group of them waiting for her in the hanger to present her with the official rank of Private, they'd also given her an upgraded uniform that included the Aviator insignia. She ran her fingers over the emblem one more time.

It still looked like a star to her, but she knew it was best to keep that to herself.

Putting her hands back on the controls Toffee guided her vessel and the secured Nexus out from the center of the mother ship, along the way not one, but two of the other Aviators arrived to escort her out. Her craft bleeped alarms and the power cut a couple of times, but they managed to make it outside okay, and the rest of the aviators gathered in formation around her to make sure the citizens of the game knew the Nexus had been retrieved and they were on their way home.

The formation was a little different than usual, there's been reports of the alien enemy being sighted in the city last night, when normally the creatures never left their ships, and a concerned citizen had claimed one had appeared after the Nexus had been placed in Half-Light. Such a thing was not possible, seeing as the monsters were all supposed to die once the Hive-Mind was broken, and what was more, the boy's description of the monster he saw did not match the aliens of the game. Better safe than sorry was the collective mind set of the army.

Tofferita was reminded of her encounter on the island, and she didn't just mean the run it with the aliens. The strange man who called himself the General...Her meeting with that man had been on her mind all day and well into the night. Her fingers went back up to the emblem sewn into her uniform. His ominous response of looking for the code room had been haunting her. What did he mean, what exactly was it he wanted her to do for him? Tofferita looked at the pilots in their ships around her, and the city full of people below.

No. Whatever the General wanted with the code room, Toffee couldn't let this world be effected by it.

The ships circled the city once, checking for possible straggler aliens or foreign monsters before returning to the capital building and landing their ships. A trained force was waiting on the roof with special equipment to remove the Nexus from Toffee's ship and take it to the altar. Once placed there, the Nexus shown brighter than ever, and the light flowed over the whole world, going through several levels and healing everything with it's light, including the space crafts belonging to the aviators who'd fought to bring it here.

Toffee had to cover her eyes for it, but it was over in a moment. The Nexus flashed a few more times, and a mechanical sound came from underneath it, the platform supporting the altar began to lower, taking the Nexus into the building and securing it under layers and layers of steel. She'd questioned once how, if it was sentient, using the Nexus to power the city was any better than the aliens using it to power their hive mind. The City mayor had explained that the aliens were using it's power to destroy, whereas the people of Earth were using the Nexus to protect. This way, the energy it was giving off was being used for the better good.

_"Don't you feel better when you are doing something to help others?"_ She had been asked.

Yes, she did, that was why she liked to come to Half-Light. She was originally just fascinated with it's other worldliness, but after becoming an Aviator she knew that deep down she was coming back again and again because she wanted to help them. It gave her a sense of purpose, and she would gladly trade all the trophies she'd ever won just to stay here and continue to help her friends.

She knew she couldn't, so Toffee was happy just to even be a temporary part of their world.

Once the Nexus was secure the Aviators lined up in a true military fashion to congratulate each other on another good day and night's work. They then stared to file into a stairway into the building to take the rest of the night off doing whatever they decided they wanted to do.

Someone touched Toffee's shoulder, "We have a little ceremony planned for you, Private." The man said with a smile, "But after what happened with your fellow racers last night that, we'd understand if your president wanted you back right away."

Tofferita beamed at him, a party for her? She was about to tell him no way, Vanellope didn't mind her staying out all night, and that she would love to stick around for the ceremony, except she caught sight of a familiar figure in the hall ahead of them. No one else had noticed the General, but he nodded at her and vanished into a side hallway "Oh! Thanks sounds wonderful Corporal Brandt, but... Yeah, you're right, Vanellope wanted everyone back in Sugar Rush early tonight. I'd better be going!" She said dipping her hat. The lie tasted terrible on her tongue but Brant seemed to buy it.

"That's okay, we figured as much. We'll reschedule it to tomorrow." He said.

Toffee was backing away from the group and heading towards the hall the General had gone into, "Uh, I don't know if tomorrow night's gonna be any better, I'll talk to Vanellope and get back to you about it, okay?" She waited for a nod of agreement and turned around to zip after the General, "Alright, see ya!"

She heard a few farewells called out after her and skidded around the corner, almost running into the General's leg. Butternuts! Couldn't he have moved a little further down the hall? She'd sort of been expecting him to have gone into one of the many offices in the hall but he just waited there at the corner where anyone could turn and see him.

He was speaking on some sort of radio when she turned the corner. "That really isn't my problem Lieutenant. I told to stay away from Hero's Duty- Oops! I'll need to get back to you..." He smirked at Tofferia and stepped back to give her more room, he shut off his radio, ignoring a scrambled response from the other side. "Slow down there Coffee-"

"-_Toffee_." She corrected folding her arms and glaring at him. What had happened to him being almost charming?

"Right, sorry." Oh, there it was, "Alright, I figure we've got a good half of the night left to do this, and based on security, about two hours before anyone notices the Code room's been tampered with. Come with me." The General said turning and walking away. Wow, right to business, huh?

Tofferita didn't budge though. "Not here!" She called after him.

The General stopped and turned back, "What was that?"

She folded her arms defiantly and repeated, "I said:_ not here_!"

Toffee watched his face shift from calculating and commanding, to confused and perhaps a little angry, "I believe we agreed yesterday that you owe me a favor-"

"-And all I'm saying is not in this game." The racer explained,"Look buddy, I don't know what you want me to do and what it's got to do with code rooms, but we're _not_ 'practicing' in this game. You can take me to any other game in this arcade you want, but I _refuse_ to mess with anything here. And if you wanna try and make me, I'll scream and you can tell me what you're planning with a squadron of guns pointed at your back." She held her ground, although small in size, her firm voice made it clear that these terms were nonnegotiable.

Either somewhere else, or not at all, debt or no debt.

The General didn't look happy, but also didn't argue and his voice remained calm as he replied, "You might have suggested this last night and saved me the time of finding this game's code room. Time I could have used to find a more suitable-"

"Oh, don't whine about time, we have plenty of it." Toffee interrupted rocking back and forth on her heels and toes, "Besides, I know the perfect game to go to."

He raised an eyebrow, "_You_?" he stated in clear disbelief. Tofferita frowned at him and his expression changed with an amused shift, "Oh, alright, I guess you're probably out more often than I am, what game do you think is so perfect for our little test?"

Toffee hit the button on her uniform to change it into the backpack, "Come with me and you'll see General Skyscraper." She replied with a mocking salute and turned on her heels giggling about the nickname she had just given him.

Behind her she heard him chuckle too, "I hope you don't expect me to respond to that." he said.

"Nah, 'cause if you did you'd have to learn to respond to the other things I start calling you. And I'm from Sugar rush I can come up with some doozies!"

"I don't doubt that." He answered, his footsteps softened as he got further behind her, Toffee turned around to see him walking the opposite direction than the stairs, "Come, this way. I've got a ride that will take us back to the station."

"Whaddya mean a ride? You have a ship?" Toffee asked. She hadn't seen any unfamiliar crafts in Half-Light's air zone.

"Not exactly..." The General reached a window and opened it. They were several stories up, he wasn't planning on, jumping was he? To her horror, the General hauled himself up and swung one leg out the window, followed by the other and turned back to her, "You coming?"

"What are you doing?" She squeaked.

"Oh, come on," The General laughed, "you go around driving karts and flying spaceships, you can't be telling me you're afraid of heights are you?"

"I'm not but..." Toffee still stared wide eyed at him with no idea how he planned to get out of Half-Light without a ship if he didn't plan on going be foot. Without warning, he slipped off the edge of the window and vanished into the air. "General!" Toffee shrieked and ran to the window, hopping high and grabbing the ledge.

Only to find the General floating in the air just beyond her view from the floor. Okay, maybe not _floating_. He was standing on some kind of hover-board that had cuffs clasped to his legs so he didn't fall off. The device look familiar to Toffee, it reminded her of the cruisers in Hero's Duty. Hadn't he mentioned that game earlier? The General was chuckling at her reaction, "Did you think I was going to jump with no where to go?" He teased holding out his hands to help her through the window.

"No!" Toffee defended, as she climbed after him "I just...Well, I asked what you were doing, saying you had a hover-board would have been _really_ helpful!"

"It's an M-class Z-4-7 XX cruiser actually." Correcting each other seemed to be their thing.

"Whatever. I'm not a doll, put me down." She demanded when he continued to hold her instead of setting her on the board like she thought he was planning to.

"Are you sure?" The General replied, "Its several miles before the exit and it's gonna be a wild ride."

"I said put me down!" He complied and she clung on to his leg, wrapping both arms around it and interlocking her fingers when her hands met each other. The General told her to hold on tight, to which she responded by squeezing his calve tightly. The machine beneath them revved and the General bent his knees.

And like that they were off.

The speed at which the cruiser went took Toffee completely by surprise. She was expecting a moderately fast pace, maybe running speed, which given that they didn't have to go down any stairs or elevators, or navigate the streets of Half-Light, would get them to the game's exit in only a few minutes. Instead, the vehicle moved at a velocity that rivaled her kart. Toffee's legs were not fastened to the board and the only thing keeping her from being blown off and to her death was her grip on the General's leg. The little racer screamed, part in exhilaration and part in terror. Oh, did she love how fast this thing was going. The fact that she was not properly secured?

Not so much.

Toffee clutched the General's leg tighter, and even hooked her smaller legs around it for extra security as she clung for dear life. She buried her face into him, tried not to cry and prayed to every virtual deity she'd ever heard of and even the God that the Gamers believed in, that she would last to the exit of this games. And then she was never going near this M-Class Z-4-7 what_ever _again. Never, ever, ever, ever, _ever_ again.

The vehicle slowed down and the General maneuvered so they began an easy decent toward the exit, but didn't set down, instead sped up the tunnel out of Half-Light without waiting for the train. Toffee whimpered against his leg and wondered if he intended to take her all the way to the next game like this. She managed to pry her eyes open after a long time to see the tunnel ending and the General did finally slow his cruiser to a stop. She jumped off the first chance she got and had to bite her lip to keep from kissing the ground, nice, safe ground.

By some miracle she still had her hat on, but the winds had ripped one of her buns loose, allowing her dark brown hair to fall messily over her shoulder. She groaned slightly and set to work fixing it. Man with it bundled so tight it was east to forget how long her hair was!

The cuffs holding the General's legs came loose and he too hopped off. With the press of a button the cruiser folded up, Toffee thought into a back pack like the one's in Hero's Duty, but when it finally finished shrinking down it looked more like a brief case which the General picked up and simply held as if it carried nothing more than meaningless reports.

"So Tofferita," he asked, "where to?" His tone suggested that he had noticed that she wasn't as prepared for the ride as she had said, but at the very least he wasn't mocking her for it.

Toffee kept fighting with her hair, she'd need a mirror to get it to look good, but this would have to do. "Follow me." She said leading the way to the station and looking around a moment before skipping across the crowded station to the game she had in mind. The General kept close behind, but he'd also a dusted his large coat collar so that his face was completely hidden. "Right there." She pointed to an entrance that read _Kart Khaos _across the top. She was about to continue forward when the General stopped.

"Wait." He pointed to a figure between them and the game, "Surge Protector."

"Oh, come on!" Toffee rolled her eyes, "He knows me, he'll let us pass."

"Maybe he'll let _you_ pass," The General responded, "but if he sees me..." He trailed off and despite Toffee asking, failed to explain what he meant.

Finally Toffee let out a big sigh "Wait here," she said and skipped over to the glowing blue security program. "Hey, Surgy! How's it going? Any arrests or suspicious activity tonight?" She said skipping circles around him so that she got his attention. Only stopping when he had to turn to face her, leaving his back to the General. She discreetly signaled for her companion to sneak past while she had him distracted.

"Sorry, sweetie." The Surge Protector replied tapping his notebook nonchalantly with his pen. "It's been ghostly quiet since last night. We've got extra security up, but if anybody is up to no good tonight, they're being really subtle about it."

"Oh! That's great actually!" She insisted while the General slipped by unnoticed. The Surge Protector raised a brow and she elaborated, "Well that means you're security increases have scared the bad guys off, and I don't mean the villians. I mean those guys who are up to no good. I'm gonna take another look at Kart Khaos before I head back to Sugar Rush, 'kay? Keep up the great work!" She curtsied for him and skipped off again.

"Yes, all right, just be careful."He called after her, "Up to no good or not, there's a lot of questionable folk about lately."

"Yeah, I've noticed, keep an eye out for 'em will ya! Bye!" She ran into the game's station and found the General looking at the train.

"So what's so perfect about this game?" He asked, seeing no one coming on or off and clearly confused by it.

"It's perfect because nobody lives here." She answered, running to get on the train and take a comfy seat before the General decided they should take his hover death trap again. "And that's really spooky to everybody so not a lot of people come in. Most don't actually."

"How is an uninhabited game 'spooky'?" The General asked following her aboard and taking the seat next to her.

"You'll see when we get there." She answered. The train started moving soon enough, and not wanting the trip to be silent Toffee looked up at the General, "So...About Hero's Call-"

"-Call of Heroes. That is, if you mean my game." He said.

"Yes, Call of Heroes." She corrected herself after his interjection. "What sort of game was it?"

"Hmm, based on what I've been able to determine about you, it's just the kind of game that's right up your alley: A space adventure, but it wasn't anything you could be of use in."

Toffee pouted, "What's that suppsta mean?"

"I mean it was a first person shooter with no back up soldiers." He pressed his fingers against his forehead and closed his eyes like he was trying to remember something and continued with a deeper voice, "_On the far reaches of the universe, on an uncharted planet, a team of scientists has been assigned a top secret experiment to develop the ultimate biological weapon. The scientists have not made contact in over two months. Your mission: Go to the planet and find out what happened to the team.__" Tofferita thought the General had lost his mind for a moment until she realized he was reciting the prologue mission from his game, lots sci-fi games had those._

_ The General lowered his hand and turned to her. "Gamers would discover the lab was overrun with monsters and fight their way to the bottom level only to discover along the way that the creatures they had been wiping out were the scientists they had been sent to rescue."_

_ Toffee scooted a little closer to him, her interest peeked, "How's that possible?"_

_ The General smiled sadly at her, it seemed like it had been a long time since he'd told this story to anyone, and continued, "I was the general in charge of the operation-"_

_ "-Hence why you ask to be called the General?"_

_ "Yes. As the prologue states, we were charged with the task of creating the ultimate biological weapon to aid the Federation Army in an implied war. What our team came up with was a serum to create super soldiers capable of advanced speed, strength and heighten intellect." _

_ "But it turned you into monsters?" She asked._

_ He nodded, "Not at first, at least according to my wife's secret reports-"_

_ "You're ____married__?" Tofferita's eyes widened, she didn't see a ring on him._

_ "Not anymore, Cybele refused to leave the game when it was announced that we were going to be unplugged, kept our daughter too..." Toffee was about to tell him that she was sorry to hear about that and maybe as why his wife had refused to leave the game, but the General started speaking again, "Anyway, Gamers followed the reports left by my wife to find out that we had created a serum that we believed was our break through. We started human testing prematurely, within days people started mutating. I had the foresight to take the official reports from the science team and my family, and hide them in the basement."_

_ "But you were the final boss?"_

_ "Yes. Because according to the story I looked at the reports and became obsessed with perfecting the serum, driving myself mad and by the time the Gamers reached the final level I had synthesized a new serum that turned me into the most powerful mutant in the game. Once Gamers defeated me I escaped with the research to continue my work and they rescued my wife and daughter who were frozen in cryosleep, then escaped the planet. At least that's how the game was supposed to end."_

_ "You mean you changed the ending?" Toffee gasped, covering her mouth._

_ "Oh, no, nothing like that. I just never let Gamers win." The General assured her, "And ultimately that's why Call of Heroes got unplugged. Gamers complained to Litwak that I was unbeatable and in a few days the game was gone."_

_ "Oh..." Toffee looked at the floor, feeling terrible for the poor man, "I'm sorry about your family." She said in consolation._

_ The General smiled at her. "Don't be, Cybele and I were married only because the program said we were. Outside of game play we hardly spoke and if we did it always ended with her badgering me to ease up on the Gamers."_

_ "Why didn't you?" She cocked her head._

_ "I don't give handouts. If a Gamer is going to challenge me, they've got to earn victory. For some reason no one ever understood that, not Cybele, not Bad-Anon, and nobody in the station after Call of Heroes was unplugged. No one wants to help the guy responsible for getting his game unplugged you see? That's why, although I am a little sad Cybele didn't let me take the baby with me, I suppose it was best that she did." The train came to a stop and the General stood up. "I can't complain too much about it though. Outside ____this__ arcade Call of Heroes was a financial success and it still selling sequels and spin offs. My character has continuing appearances, so do Cybele, our daughter and the research that I got away with at the end of CoH."_

_ Toffee hadn't really asked about what had happened after his game was unplugged, but didn't complain. Obviously since he was speaking about it he'd had it bottled up for a while and needed a fresh set of ears to hear it. "I'm sorry." She said again anyway, "Well at least your game continued. That's good news."_

_ Toffee was going to question how the General knew his game had spawned sequels, but it was most likely he had learned that because spin off games to his own could very well have been put into Litwak's. There could even be one in the arcade at that very moment. Did he ever get homesick?_

_ The pair got off the train together and immediately the silence fell over them. It wasn't just that they weren't talking, the whole world was utterly silent. Most games had some sound track or background noise, or even some sign of life like NPC creatures to simulate a real place. This world was practically all machine, no sound, not even wind, met their senses._

_ "You're right, this is a little eerie. What is this place?" The General asked looking around._

_ "Kart Khaos," Toffee replied, "When it got plugged in everybody from Sugar Rush came over to have a look. The race track over there is pretty cool, but it's also ____really__ dangerous, nobody wanted to even try it. Over there is the factory. The Karts are there and so is the customize option, so I'm betting that's a good place to start looking for a code room?" She said pointing to a building not that far off._

_ In response the General took the black box he'd had the night before and pointed it in the direction of the factory. "Spot on." He concluded, "Alright the sooner we get over there, the sooner we get this over over with and we can get out of here. This place does give you a certain chill."_

_ At a walking pace, Tofferita would have had to take five steps to match one of his, but she ran ahead of him with seemingly limitless energy. Beating him to the factory she pointed to the premade karts. "Gamers can pick one of these five karts or there's the customize option over there that let's them build their own. We all tried it when we visited, but the game can only save three customized karts at a time."_

_ "Hmmm." The General held his device out to locate the code room, but nodded. She wasn't sure if he was actually listening, but decided not to make a scene about it. "Careful General, this place may be uninhabited, but the holograms sneak up on you."_

_ "The wha-" He was cut off by the sudden appearance of the ghostly figure of a woman. The General gave a cry of alarm and he pulled his serum out, but realized the woman was just a hologram quickly and put it back into his pocket._

_ "Toldja" Toffee said rocking back and forth on her feet with her hands behind her back._

_ "What purpose does she serve?" The General asked waving his hand through the projected image._

_ Tofferita didn't answer, instead letting the hologram do her job. "Welcome!" She said with a static voice. She flickered in and out of existence, life-like, but without sentience. Programed, but not alive. "_Step on the gas to use a pre-made kart or pull the throttle to enter the work shop and design your own unique kart." She informed them, not giving any regard to the fact that neither characters before her were capable of doing either of those things.

The General stared at the hologram for a moment longer, "Any more of these things?" He asked.

She passed by him toward the work-shop, "Yeah if you go in here she'll tell you how to make a kart, and if you go over to the pre-made ones she tells you their stats." Toffee replied.

"Any near the code room?" The General asked.

"I don't know where the code room is Genius." Toffee shot him a look, "And those are the only ones I know about. C'mon, let's get this show on the road! This place is really starting to creep me out!" she said. Since it was completely silent, the little racer was starting to pick of on every little noise: her breathing, The General's breathing, the swoosh of his long coat and the heavy sounds of his foot steps. Each echoed against the silent landscape becoming more and more eerie as they echoed.

"Right, this way." The General took the lead, passing the work shop through another set of doors into a hall with a big window that over looked the shop. It was like there was supposed to be people working here, observing every move of machines that weren't operating. A big set of doors was on the other side of the glass panel.

Toffee skipped along behind him, the silence was getting to her again and she decided to ask, "So, what's your final boss form like?"

The General followed the signal from his tech, "Oh, like me except more dangerous." He answered vaguely.

"How so?" She insisted.

"Hmm, I have sharp teeth in my boss form."

"Ya mean like a vampire?"

"No, Vampires just have the sharpened canines to suck blood from the jugular, when I say sharp teeth, I mean the whole set." He replied.

"So, like a shark then?"

He shot her an unimpressed look, but failed to find anything wrong with this comparison, "Yes like a shark." He answered, "But sharks don't fly, I do."

"Vampires can fly." Toffee pointed out.

"I'm not a Vampire." The General argued simply and stopped in front of the doors at the end of the hall. "This is it." He said.

The doors were latched shut, a computer screen with a display monitor and keyboard was placed at hand level to the General. Assuming it was password locked Toffee shuddered to remember that no one lived here, so why was there a lock?

"We can't get in." She noted looking at the pad and preparing to turn and leave. The General reached out and typed something into the keyboard. The doors opened immediately, leaving Toffee to stand there with her jaw dropped in shock before she finally managed to spit out. "H-h-how did you _do_ that?"

"There is a code to get into code rooms." He replied and pressed something else that made the door close again. "Your first task before I send you to do me that favor, will be to memorize this code."

"What's the code?" She asked.

He knelt down to speak face to face with her. "Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start."

Toffee blinked at him, "Is that it? Easy-peasy!" She snapped her fingers.

"You think so?" The General questioned, "Say it back to me, then, what's the code to get into this room?"

Toffee's smile dropped. The answer, which was clear as day in her head a second ago, promptly vanished. "Ummmm...Up, down- no, Up, Up, Down, Right, Left, A, B, A, Start?"

"Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start." The General repeated, "Now say it with me: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start."

He made her repeat it a few times before asking permission to hold her up to the computer screen to type it into the pad herself. Toffee stared at the keyboard for several seconds before she started to slowly type. "Up...Up...Down...Down...Left...Right...Left...Rig ht...B...A...Start!" The doors slid open once more, "Yes!" She congratulated herself, but the General pressed the button that closed them.

"Do it again." He instructed.

Toffee stared at the closed doors with disbelief. "B-but I _just_ did it!" She complained.

"You did it _once_." He corrected. "And rather slowly. I'm not confident that you will be able to do it when I need you to, so you are going to do it again and again until I am."

"I already did it!" Tofferita folded her arms, "What makes you think I won't be able to do it again?"

"Can you?" The General asked. With an angry huff, Toffee punched in the code a second time, however she'd messed up somewhere and the doors didn't budge. "Again." The General repeated. Although she rolled her eyes, she complied, doing it perfectly a second time, but barely managed to pat herself on the back before the General shut the doors again and demanded she do it "In half the time please." It took several tries, but finally the General seemed satisfied with the pace in which she opened the doors and moved on to tell her "Try doing it without saying the code out loud to yourself."

"What's the big deal?" Toffee demanded, "I'm only gonna do this for you once, and you're gonna be there with me, right?"

The General was silent for a moment. "I may go with you to be sure that it is done, or I may end up having something else I need to attend to. I must prepare you to be able to do this on your own if that is what is necessary."

Toffee rolled her eyes and muttered to herself, "Gamers say you were unbeatable, _intolerable_ is more like it...Up..." She caught herself in the act of saying the code out loud and stopped. Her time slowed down and she couldn't keep herself from mouthing it so The General made her do it three more times before he finally let the doors remain open.

"Now for the easy part." He said, and pulled something out of his belt pocket. It looked like some sort of hand held weapon, like a gun, which put Toffee's nerves on edge, but he fired it off aiming at the floor and a high-tech rope came out. He yanked the end out of the ground and pulled more and more rope from his gun. "Wrap this around yourself." He instructed as he passed some of the coils to her.

"Why?" Toffee asked, she was already doing what he'd asked of her, but she still would like to know what he wanted the rope for.

The General nodded to the doors which lead into blackness as far as Toffee could see. "So I can pull you back out when your done." He said, she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "There is no floor, no ceiling, no walls. This door sits on nothing, with out this rope you would float helplessly in a void with only codes for company."

"Okay sounds like a good reason. Ready." Toffee tightened the rope a little more just to be sure it didn't slip off. "Will there be a rope for me to use if you don't come with me?" She asked.

"Of course," The General replied guiding her to the door, and now she could see a bunch of glowing wires and code boxes. It was beautiful to be honest, but before she could comment, The General began instructing her on what she was supposed to do. "When you do this in Sugar Rush, there will be a code box detached from everything else, but still connected to the game. Your job will be to retrieve that code box and bring it to me."

"Sounds easy, what am I doing here?" Toffee didn't have any idea why they couldn't just close the doors and leave Kart Khaos now.

"As I said, the box will still be connected to the game, so you can't just take it and run. You've got to disconnect it, slowly, carefully. Otherwise whatever you're trying to remove will only become a glitch instead of being ready to move." The General responded, "So go in there, select a code box and carefully begin removing the wires that connect it to the rest of the game. When you are done, bring me the box and I will evaluate your performance...This will also be an exercise in maneuvering in there."

Toffee sighed, "Alright, sounds easy." She repeated, "Anything in particular I should be looking for to try and remove?"

"No, though they store the data for different things, all code boxes are the same. You can go far in if you wish, or you may bring me the first code box you reach." He told her.

"Alrightie, here I go." Toffee jumped into the void and sort of expected to fall into nothing, just dangle for a while until the General pulled her back up, or the rope broke. Instead she floated, sort of, it was more like being underwater, including some kind of invisible current that tried to pull her toward one of the non existent walls.

Though challenging to move at first, the racer got the hang of it quickly. It was surprisingly fun, and Toffee found herself gleefully swimming around the nothingness and even trying a few tricks like spinning and diving before the General reminded her that she was supposed to be getting the code box. She rolled her eyes at him and swam to the codes. The first box she found read "Stadium." and she picked at the wires on top. Her grip was too gentle when she began, and she complained that she couldn't get it, to which the General instructed her to pull harder.

After several minutes of struggling, Toffee had the top wires all cleared and stopped to take her jacket off before moving to the wires on the bottom, which for some reason came out easier than the ones on the top. She grabbed the box, "Got it!" The General tugged on the rope to pull her out and she handed him the code box proudly.

He inspected it, "Very good, forceful but deliberate, the wires are all intact..." He assessed. Toffee's smile was growing wider as he continued his positive evaluation of her work. "Perfect." He concluded and handed her the box back. "Now put it back in and try again. A little faster this time, if you please."

Toffee groaned, but did as she was told. Geeze, if this was gonna be like memorizing the code she was going to be in here all night. "Whatever you say, General Bossy..."

**Author's end note: **Thanks for reading, feed back is appreciated!


	8. A Lie Wrapped up in Truth

**Author's Note: **I probably could have worded my last note better, so far only one person has commented about being offended it so I'm guessing everyone else understood that it was meant as an invitation for you to go back and laugh at yourself, I did not mean to come off as condescending or insulting and I apologize to any one who felt that way. This chapter should clarify most questions you have about Turbo's back story, everything else will be revealed at the story continues and concludes. My sister has Ocs appearing in this chapter and she's been nagging at me to get it done.

**Second note: **People, I am now moderating guest reviews. This is because it is a review page and not a war zone, so while I thank readers for their support, I'm considering this over and I'm removing any further reviews considering "Guest".

**Warning:** Ralph's POV, some violence and language.

**Disclaimer: **In this chapter the only characters that belong to me are a group of cloaked figures mentioned standing over one of the tables. Jeremiah and Faolan are cameoing Ocs belonging to my twin sister. Ralph, Turbo, and Vanellope belong to Disney, all others belong to their respectful copywrite holders.

Break with the Past

Ralph wasn't dumb.

He or at least not as dumb as a lot of people thought he was. Ralph could _play_ dumb, and he certainly wasn't the brightest guy in the arcade, but he knew something was up. The Wrecker hadn't put too much attention to it at first, the signs were small, a couple people showing up here and there that he wasn't acquainted with, big deal. Everyone was always hustling and bustling about after arcade hours, he couldn't be expected to know everyone from every single game. What was there to worry about a few new faces?

But there was something that had been putting Ralph on edge, he couldn't explain it, and the fact that Turbo had reappeared, that new guy in Hero's Duty, the unfamiliar characters? Was it all connected somehow, and if it was... "Tapper, can I get another?" Ralph called from his seat.

"Coming right up!" Came the response.

Ralph still hadn't had a chance to talk to Vanellope about what had happened here a couple of nights ago. Turbo had just appeared, grabbed her and just let let her go? Yeah, right. After what that little gremlin pulled, Ralph didn't trust the former racer as far as he could throw him. They were still keeping Turbo's return quiet, and Calhoun hadn't mentioned anything new with that Chekov-or-whatever-his-name-was. And what with these new guys...Why couldn't things just be _normal_ for once?

He couldn't prove any of this was connected, maybe he was just being paranoid because of Turbo coming back. He shuttered a bit, recalling the last time he had seen the racer, turned monster.

"_Because of _you_ Ralph, I am now the most powerful Virus in the arcade_!"

The door burst open and a pair of characters in robes and armor came barging it. "Faolon you can't get drunk on rootbeer." The shorter of the two was saying as they headed to the back of the bar where a group of hooded figures awaited them with a stack of cards.

"Fuggin Waj me." His companion replied, "Oi, Tapps! Couple rounds fer me 'n Jeremiah!"

Ralph wasn't too far away from them, but the section of Tapper's the men were seated had been dubbed 'the rated T' part of the bar. Litwak's arcade was mostly filled with E rated games, but in the past few years some higher rated games had been plugged in to attract some older players. In general the T-rated characters and E-rated characters didn't interact, because they didn't get along. If Tapper's didn't have the best drinks in the arcade they probably wouldn't set foot in this place.

The Wrecker tried not to pay attention to them, trying instead to focus on the growing worry that had brought him in here. Rumor had it things weren't going well in Sugar Rush so Ralph didn't want to intrude while Vanellope had her hands full, but at the same time he was really concerned about everything that was going on. A bar maid walked past Ralph carrying drinks for the guys in the back.

"Here, you go boys. Two mugs of Tapper's best!" The girl, same from the other night, beamed and turned around again to continue her duties else where. Ralph wouldn't have paid it any mind except for what the one he'd heard the character called Jeremiah say next.

"Hey, Faolan, did she always work here?" The man dressed in priest robes asked his friend as he set his hand of four cards on the table.

"Hm?" The broader man in armor glanced over his shoulder and replied, "Nay, I dun thingg she did."

Ralph's ears perked up at that and he too glanced at the bar maid as she talked to Tapper writing something in her notebook as she did. Of course Ralph had noticed her the other day after he'd heard about Turbo kidnapping Vanellope, but he'd just thought she was just another witness who had stayed behind to give more information to the Surge Protector, but no, Tapper's body language suggested he knew her very well...or at least thought he did.

Like Calhoun and Chkalov.

"Hmm, I wonder where she came from." Jeremiah mused and then let out a groan that was matched by his buddy Faolan which prompted Ralph to turn around. The hooded figures collected the cards on the table and dealt another hand to the two men, Ralph could only assume the groan had something to do with the game. Jeremiah looked over his new hand and continued "You know? I've been noticing that a lot. Character disappearing in some games, and new one's popping up in others. Think it's some sort of fad the E-rated games are into now, just hopping around and seeing how long it takes Gamers to notice?"

He tried not to eavesdrop, but his heart raced a bit. Someone else had noticed the new characters in other Games. A chill ran up Ralph's spine, not only that, but people had _disappeared_ too? If those weren't connected to Turbo's return, then they were at least connected to _each other_, right? It couldn't just be a coincidence. The lights were flashing, the gates were coming down, Ralph's heart thudded in his ears while he waited for the train to come...metaphorically speaking of course, he was still in Tapper's bar not out in the station.

"Oi, maybe. Sounds just lige the ginna thang that lil' E-ers would pull to nab a lil' attention." Faolan replied after a swig from his mug of Rootbeer, and punctuated the remark with another groan that Jeremiah mirrored. Faolan's response was exactly why the E and T rated games didn't get along. Ralph's hands balled up angrily and he almost stood up to make the man try and repeat it to his face and _fists_.

"Stupid T-rated games, think they're so much better..." He muttered on the verge of standing up when the door opened up and a familiar voice piped up.

"Hey, Tapps, I gotta friend here I need to talk privately with." Vanellope was saying cheerfully, sitting on one of the stools with her elbows on the table and chin in her palms; while a stranger, her 'friend' who kept their face hidden, stood away from them. "Can we use the back room, pretty _please_?" she asked batting her eyelashes sweetly and raising her tone a higher note in a way that was only cute coming out of a kid.

"Sure sweetie, whatever you like. Want me to post somebody outside to make sure nobody takes off with you again?" Tapper offered, somewhat humorously, but at the same time very serious about the safety of his customers.

"Nah," Vanellope replied glancing over at her companion, and back to Tapper "We don't need to worry about that. It's fine!"

Tapper finished wiping a glass and opened the door to let the two smaller characters into the back room where his beverage was store. Only a few people were allowed in there and only under very special circumstances. Ralph bet that Tapper had really only agreed to let them back there because of what had happened the last time Vanellope was in his bar.

Again, the Wrecker wanted very much to mind his own business. Vanellope was not only his friend, but his _best_ friend. He wanted to trust that everything was alright, but with everything that was going on, Turbo, Chkalov, the various other characters disappearing and appearing, the fights in Sugar Rush...He'd understood Vanellope wanting to get home right away the night she had been kidnapped, but last night she'd gone off to Burger Time _alone_, when her own rule was that the racers should only go anywhere with people they trusted. Of course the fight had sent her back, and Ralph didn't want to bother her because of it, but _why_ had she gone off alone? Was she meeting someone?

The person in the back room with her?

Ralph wasn't dumb, but he tended to over think the wrong things while under thinking others. As he stood from the bar only one thing was on his mind: make sure Vanellope wasn't hanging out with anyone dangerous. Waiting for both Tapper and the new barmaid to both be busy, Ralph sneaked across the game, slipped into the back room to find Vanllope and her friend nowhere in sight.

He didn't panic, there were rows and rows of Rootbeer cases in the back room. The Wrecker could hear voices coming from further in. Whatever Vanellope wanted to talk privately with this guy about must be really private, if they had gone so far back to keep from being interrupted by Tapper or his barmaid if they went to get a special brew. Ralph hoped to only get a peek at the guy, and maybe catch a little bit of what they were talking about, just to make sure Vanellope was alright.

He crept closer, catching only the beginning or ends of words over soft mechanical noises that came from around the room. Enough to determine that the other speaker was male, and that he had a dreadfully familiar voice. Ralph froze where he was a moment, terrified to know what he would find if he peeked over the corner.

"_Let's watch her _die_ together, shall we_?"

Ralph forced himself to look. They stood face to face, Vanellope with her arms crossed defiantly, cheeks puffed out in annoyance leaning forward slightly as if trying to be the slightest bit intimidating. "I admit, telling me that story about your friends was a nice touch, but it isn't grounds to trust you."

Across from her, leaned back against the wall with one leg crossed over the other, hands tucked casually behind his head and a cocky grin on his face: was Turbo. He had an oversized coat on and his helmet had been left somewhere, so Ralph hadn't recognized him when he had his face turned away in the bar, but there was no mistaking those yellow eyes or that voice."C'mon Sweettart, it's not like I'm asking you to lemme alone in there-"

Ralph couldn't contain the rage and fear that built up in him "_YOU_!"

The pair barely had time to jump before Ralph was on them, snatching Turbo by the collar of his jacket with one hand and lifting him of the ground. He probably enjoyed sound the that came out of the ex-racer's mouth a little too much as Turbo dangled helplessly in his grip. Ralph's vision was completely red, and for a split second he didn't care who was in the room or why, his fist lifted high ready to wreck his face so bad that it wouldn't be recognizable as a face when he was done.

"Ralph, no! Put him down!" Vanellope cried out, hopping onto his shoulder and tugging on his arm like she was trying to hold him back.

The red left Ralph's vision, and he lowered his fist, but didn't comply with the request to release the little man in his grip. The Wrecker glanced at Vanellope and saw the pleading look in her eyes. It confused him, but he nodded to her in a silent agreement that he wasn't going to hurt the other character, but also expressing that he had no intentions of letting him go."What are you up to, Turbo?" He said turning to the gray-faced racer.

Only to see that his face wasn't completely gray, and he wasn't dangling helplessly anymore. Markings, like the one's on the King Candy Cybug had appeared on him. Turbo was assaulting his hand, clawing and biting desperately at at his fingers. It didn't hurt, at least not terribly, but seeing those markings terrified him, the face of the monster he'd fought on top of diet cola mountain flashed in front of his eyes and Ralph's grip came loose with a gasp. Turbo dropped to the floor, from the noise he made, pretty painfully, but hopped back up with an angry hiss, ignoring the pain.

Ralph could put on a smile and tell stories about his encounter like he was a brave knight telling the villagers about how he'd bravely slain the dragon, but behind that smile was a heart beating in terror. Visions of the Cybrid monster haunted his dreams at night, and only his closest friends knew how deeply the experience had effected him.

Vanellope was, of course, one of those friends, but she jumped off Ralph's shoulder and put herself between them. Ralph worried for her safety, what with the other racer breaking up into red data and glitching between his Turbo and King Candy forms. She merely glanced over her shoulder at him, and calmly, but firmly said, "Take it easy," She cast her gaze up at Ralph as well, "_Both_ of you."

"Vanellope what's going on?" Ralph demanded, "Why are you here with _him_?"

The girl turned away from him, focused completely on Turbo and trying to get him to calm down, "Turbo, are you alright, or should Ralph and I be running?" Vanellope asked, which only caused Ralph to worry more.

At the sound of her voice, Turbo's head snapped up, and his glitched stopped immediately, the markings remained on his face a moment longer as he glared at her, but slowly faded and his expression dropped, "I'm fine," He answered, "Bug just got startled that's all..."

Ralph was confused, a little hurt that Vanellope was sneaking around with this creep instead of talking to him, but mostly he was angry. "What. Is. Going. On?" He asked again.

Vanellope turned to him and opened her mouth, but Turbo spoke up first, "Relax, Big Guy, the gli- I mean, the _girl_ and I were just talking."

"About what?" Ralph glowered.

"About him leaving and never coming back." Vanellope answered.

The Wrecker raised an eyebrow and Turbo continued, "Do you really think I can stay in this arcade, after what I've done? I'm getting outta here first chance I get, but before I can do that-"

"-He needs his code box," Vanellope took over the story, "which is still in Sugar Rush, and if you believe him that's why he's still alive-"

"What, you're saying you _don't_ believe me now?" Turbo said with mock insult.

She back to him, "I'm saying it doesn't matter what I believe, your still not going into the code room!"

"What is he trying to get you to believe?" Ralph asked.

"I'm right here, you can ask me you know." Turbo waved, but he was ignored when Vanellope turned back to Ralph.

"What he did to me was inexcusable, despicable, but he told me about everything that happened before that and I-"

"-Believe him?" He cut her off and placed his hands on his hips, "I believed him once, too. I looked him right in the eye and believed that he actually wanted to _protect you_ from being killed because you wouldn't be able to leave the game if it was unplugged! Eye to eye and he _lied_ to me!"

"Ralph, that's not what I- It's just..." Vanellope kept glancing between the wrecker and the former king. Clearly she knew Ralph had a point, but at the same time, what did Turbo have to gain from lying to her now?

The answer came with a short laugh, "Can't fool a warthog twice, can I?" Turbo said suddenly, "You don't even know what I told her, and you've already assumed I was lying."

"_Were_ you?" Ralph demanded while Vanellope's mouth opened and closed unsure, of what to say or do at the moment. The Wrecker could tell she wanted to believe Turbo's story. "What did you tell her?"

Turbo had taken back up the pose he'd been in when Ralph arrived, one leg crossed over the other with his hand behind his head as he leaned against the wall, casually smirking at both of them. "Does it matter what I told her? She said she wanted a good story, not a true one."

Vanellope turned on her heels and glared at him, "So you _were_ lying to me?" she accused.

Turbo's smirk only grew. "You know, the trouble with being a good liar is that it makes it hard to tell the truth from a lie."

"Stop avoiding the question Tur-mite!" Ralph yelled, "Did you lie to her, yes or no?"

Turbo only laughed again. "You don't get it do you? It doesn't matter what I say now. If I say that I lied I only prove you right, if I say I was telling the truth, you aren't going to believe me because, as you said, I've looked you eye to eye, lied to you and got away with it. Would you believe me if I said I was telling the truth?"

Ralph couldn't answer. Well he _could_, but his answer was no way in hell would he believe Turbo if he said that he was telling the truth. That presented a problem: What if Turbo was telling the truth and they refused to believe him because of his history? Or worse, what if he was lying and they let him do what he wanted, only to have him betray them?"

"_I can take over any game I want!_"

Turbo noted the look on his face, "You see the problem, now right?" Ralph could only give one simple angry nod, hating to admit Turbo had them trapped. There was no good option for him and Vanellope, if they didn't trust him and he was being honest, they were doing him wrong, if they did and he wasn't, they would pay for it in ways they couldn't even imagine. They couldn't make one decision without risking that they were wrong.

Turbo turned his attention to Vanellope, who had furious tears in her eyes. "You said give you a good story. I gave you one, I can't prove if any of it's true, so I could have told you deep painful secrets I've been carrying with me for a long time or I could have just made it up to make you pity me. I want to get my code box from Sugar Rush and I will do whatever to take to get it."

After a brief moment of reflective silence he spoke up again. "You want to know what I can do to make you trust me?" He asked rhetorically, "The fact is, you can't. Not as long as there's something that I want."

"So if I can't trust you, what is the point of telling me all that?" Vanellope wiped angry tears off her cheeks.

Turbo stood up straight, "The point being that I'm going to get my code box one way or another and I'm offering you the chance to be there to make sure that I don't do anything you wouldn't want me to." He looked at Vanellope then to Ralph, "Besides, I can change the memories of the characters in the game, but but there's nothing I can do to change what Ralph, or anybody else in this arcade knows about what happened in Sugar Rush. What's the worst I could do in there?"

That was a ridiculously simple question. What was the worst he could do, Ralph didn't want to know. Better to have someone watching him than to let him sneak around on his own doing who-knew-what. The Wrecker was about to agree to this solution when the Cybug flashed before his eyes again.

The same thing appeared to cross Vanellope's mind, although she appeared to have a more concrete concern. "What about the Bug? What's the worst _it_ could do?" She asked, then knowing that Ralph didn't understand, quickly explained, "Part of the reason he wants his code box is to get rid of the Cybug data that's still attached to it." She paused a second and stared hard at Turbo, "Unless you're lying about that too."

The other racer merely sighed, and repeated "Trouble with being a good liar is that it makes it hard to tell the truth from a lie... Just take my word for it. Being a Cybug is no fun at all."

Ralph didn't like that answer, not when he had been there on top of Diet Cola Mountain to here the monster clearly enjoying his new form. "_I should thank you... but it would more fun to kill you_!"

"_That's_ a lie!" He said picking Turbo up again, "Did you think I would just forget about what happened? What you said to me? How _eager_ you were to see her get killed!?  
Turbo gagged as Ralph's knuckles pressed against his throat while clasped by his coat. "You...Sugar...Not...-gck-...Cybug...!"

"Ralph!" Vanellope cried again.

And once more Ralph loosened his grip but didn't put the man down, able to breathe once more Turbo glared at him, "You think you're better than me, don't you? Just because you saved the day in the end, but you're forgetting that _you_ brought the Cybugs into Sugar Rush!" He hissed.

"That was an accident!" Ralph defended himself.

"And you're a hero _on accident_ too." Turbo continued. "How did you end up in Sugar Rush? You stepped on a Cybug egg and _accidentally_ tumbled into one of Hero's Duty's escape pods. Which _accidentally_ crashed in Sugar Rush. But face it Ralph, without those accidents, you're no better than I am."

"Is that what you think?" Ralph asked tightening his grip again.

"That what I _know_." He replied, bringing his hands up to Ralph's fingers and trying to pry them loose, "What were you doing in Hero's Duty, Ralph? Weren't you going into another game to get something you wanted that wasn't something you could get in your own? Let's take me out off the picture for a moment. Here's you in Hero's Duty, a place you're not supposed to be, taking something you have no right right to have, and putting not only _another_ game in danger, but the whole arcade."

Ralph couldn't argue with that, his grip started to loosen in guilt, "Putting me _back_ in," Turbo continued as he started to wiggle free from Ralph's grasp, "But pretending this time I wasn't a fraud, Vanellope _was_ a glitch who couldn't escape the infestation. You are the one who would be responsible for getting Sugar Rush unplugged. Ha, ha. Even in the reality that happened, if you hadn't succeeded in stopping the infestation, it was still _your_ fault."

"And to top that all off, what was happening in Fix-It Felix Junior? I can't imagine that a game without it's villain would last long. Litwak probably had the out of order sign up, didn't he? By some miracle you managed to get everyone else back into the game before the Arcade opened, but if you _hadn't_..." Turbo snapped his fingers twice for emphasis, "Two games gone because of _you_. It would probably be only a few days at most before they started saying 'Going Ralph', instead of

'Going Turbo'."

Ralph's lips twitched, wanting to make an angry retort, but Turbo hadn't finished yet."And if you survived, how long do you think you woulda lasted? You might have invited those poor guys without a game to come join yours, but do you think _anyone_ would do the same for you? You got two games unplugged, if you could manage to come out in the open at all, no one would help you because no one would want _anything_ to _do with you_."

Who was Turbo talking about, Ralph or himself?

He hated to admit it, but Turbo had a point, what the Wrecker had done was almost no different than what the racer had done. It had even taken a very long time for Markowski, the soldier who's armor he had borrowed, to forgive him for stealing his identity and sneaking into the game, effectively ruining his image amongst his comrades for his poor performance while masquerading at the other man.

Turbo dropped to the floor for the second time, though he landed rather gracefully this time, as Ralph let him go, silently admitting defeat. "You think I'm bad, but you're no angel yerself, so don't pretend for a _second_ that you're any better than I am just because a few accidents made you into a hero."

"How do you know Ralph brought the Cybug in?" Vanellope asked suddenly.

Ralph's ear perked up at that. Yeah, that didn't add up, on the mountain Turbo had specified that it was because of _him_ that he had become that Cybug monster, 'the most powerful virus in the arcade'. He could have heard stories at any point that revealed how it happened after the night was over, but in _that_ moment, he shouldn't have. "How _do_ you know?" the Wrecker repeated.

Turbo rolled his eyes, "Ralph, you figured out I was lying about Vanellope being a glitch and found a way to stop the Cybugs, I bet you can figure out why I know this detail."

"...The Cybug that ate you..." Vanellope started, then looked at Ralph for support on her guess.

"Is the same one I brought in with me..." Ralph finished, Turbo nodded, in confirmation, "So you're saying that you have all that Cybug's memories?"

"From the moment of it's birth to now. It's a little obnoxious to be carrying two sets of memories... And two personalities." Turbo answered. "Look, I don't care if you believe me or not, I'm saying that everything I said on the Mountain, wasn't me talking. All I care about is racing-"

"-and yourself." Vanellope added.

Turbo ignored her and continued looking at Ralph, "Ask yourself why your friend had to kill her fiance after he was consumed by a Cybug. Just because that _thing_ has my face doesn't mean it's _me_. I'm a racer, not a weapon."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ralph asked.

"You're not seriously that dense, are you? It means what the Cybug wants isn't what I-"

"No, what you mean about the weapon comment." Ralph interrupted. "The Cybugs are an experiment gone wrong."

"And what exactly do you think the experiment was _for_, breeding the perfect pet?" Turbo snapped, "You have no idea what's even happening in the world of Hero's Duty! You don't know what's going on in the arcade! You don't have the _first_ clue-"

"-What's happening in the arcade? You mean what's been going on with those characters who've been disappearing and the new one's appearing in other ones?" Ralph interjected. He watched Turbo's mouth open and close and Ralph knew that he had caught Turbo off guard.

"Has it got something to do with those friends you keep mentioning?" Vanellope asked.

Turbo was trapped. That was a nice change, he'd had them dangling helplessly at him whim not knowing the truth, taunting them things they couldn't deny and now the tables had turned. Turbo was the one who had no idea what to say for once. He'd walked into a situation, and his silver tongue had visibly turned to lead.

"We don't mean any harm." He said at last, "Most of us at least. Things got out of hand in Sugar Rush, and I admit I'm not the best example, but as I said, no one wants to help the people who got their game unplugged. Ralph, you would have been recruited too. The General would have found you a suitable game to hide in and you could have lived a life where no one had idea of who you were and what you'd done. We would have looked out for you, just like they looked out for me, and we look out for each other now."

Turbo's face as he spoke was on of desperate sadness, regret, shame, and fear that made Ralph question whether Turbo was really to blame for what had happened or if somehow, they were all responsible because of the way they had shunned him (and others) disgraced his name, and left him with no where to turn. The racer's expression shifted suddenly and smoothly to one of cocky self absorbed grin. "Or you know I could be lying." He stated with a slight amused hum.

Ralph growled, "Okay, I've had enough of you, runt! You might not be the best person to go to for the truth, but what if I talk to your friend hanging out in Hero's Duty?"

"He's not my friend." Turbo replied so abruptly that this could only be a fact. "I'm assuming you mean Chkalov, at least."

"Who's Chkalov?" Vanellope asked.

Ralph updated her on the situation regarding the Lieutenant, "He's been there about three weeks."

"Yeah, and it's been about three weeks since my last big incident with the Bug." Turbo continued bitterly, "I doubt that's a coincidence."

"I thought you said you look out for each other." Ralph glared at him, thinking he had caught the racer in a lie.

"Just because we do, doesn't mean we have to like it." He replied, "This is the one thing I am going to ask you to trust me on: Chkalov is up to something."

"Why should we believe that?" Vanellope put her hands on her hips, "After all you could be lying."

Ralph offered her a fist bump which she accepted, but Turbo looked at Ralph and uttered a single word, "Manticore."

Ralph turned to him sharply, "What did you say?"

"That's Chkalov's game of origin." Turbo said.

"What's that got to do with-" Vanellope started.

Ralph cut her off to explain, "About ten years ago there was a game called Manticore recalled from arcades, something about an in-game virus that spread through the systems and shut down games across the world. Luckily for us Litwak only had the game for a couple of days before the recall was announced."

"Nice, but that doesn't prove anything-" Once again Vanellope was cut off as this time Turbo picked up the story.

"Since I was still in Sugar Rush I only got to hear this story second hand, but before the game was unplugged, one guy, three guesses who, escaped the game and sealed it off, trapping everyone else inside."

"That's horrible!" Vanellope gasped, but Ralph put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"He did it to keep the virus from getting out. He saved the arcade." Ralph told her.

"So the story goes," Turbo said, "But the arcade did such a wonderful job of thanking him, huh? Vanellope's never heard the story, you didn't even know his name... Did you ever stop to wonder what happened to him after his game was unplugged?"

"No, but I had my own problems." Ralph replied, starting to feel a little guilty for never giving any of these guys a second thought before.

"Yeah, well. After Manticore was unplugged, he wandered Game Central Station being ignored by everyone else who had their own problems, until the General recruited him and found him a spot in what-ever-that-game-was-called. When you caught me in Sugar Rush, everyone pulled out of the games they were hiding in and switched around so we stood less chance of getting caught."

Geez, he made it sound like there was a lot of them...Actually, how many _were_ there?

Ralph shook his head, "That might explain the characters disappearing and others appearing, but why do you think we can't trust Chkalov? So far he's been pretty well behaved in Hero's Duty."

"Maybe you can. I'm just saying I don't" Turbo answered, which only got him another glare from both of them and he continued, "We told him stay away from Hero's Duty, the General said it was too risky, but he programmed himself in anyway."

"Why?" Vanellope asked.

"See, that's the question isn't it? Why would he go into Hero's Duty, when everyone said not to?" Turbo concluded, "I'm telling you, he's up to something."

"Actually, I meant why did this General think it was too risky to go into Hero's Duty, but that is a good question." Vanellope replied, "And who is your General friend anyway? He got a real name?"

Turbo shook his head, "I can't tell you that. The General only gives his name away to people he trusts."

"So you don't know?"

"Yeah, I know, I'm one of the few that does, but I'm not telling you because I'll have violated that trust." Turbo explained, "As I said, us Outcasts look out for each other, but we rarely actually like or trust each other. Everyone's got secrets. He knows mine, I know his."

"But not Chkalov's?" Turbo nodded at Ralph's question, repeating his earlier comment about not liking each other, "So what gives you the right to say we shouldn't trust him when we can't trust you?"

"This conversation is starting to go in circles," Turbo rolled his eyes, "I trust Chkalov as much as you trust me. He went into Hero's Duty, when we said it was too risky, probably because of your friend or maybe because the Cybugs are too dangerous, I don't know. I don't like it. End of story."

"You're basically saying we shouldn't trust the dirty scumbag that the dirty scumbag doesn't trust?" Vanellope asked and got a nod in response.

"A liar knows a liar when he sees one."

The room started to fill with silence until the door back into Tapper's opened and somebody came in for a special order. When they left, Turbo spoke up again, changing the subject back to the original purpose of the meeting, "So, my code box: I'm going to go get it, with or without you. Which do you prefer, sweettart?" He said turning to Vanellope.

"Don't call me sweettart." She protested, folded her arms and started tapping her foot. She weighed her possibilities: On one hand, willingly let Turbo back into her game and risk getting screwed over, or not let him and live constantly on her toes in case he came while she wasn't watching him.

She finally relented with a deep sigh, "Alright, I'll let you come get your code box." Turbo's face lit up, but darkened again when she continued, "But, I'm not going to the only one escorting you. Ralph?" She looked up at him, not even needing to ask.

He nodded, "If you don't step exactly where she tells you to..." He cracked his knuckles, letting Turbo's imagination finish the threat. Too bad the racer was already deathly pale, Ralph would have liked to see the blood drain out of his face."

"Alright, fine! I agree!" Turbo's hand shot to Vanellope, Ralph jumped a bit and his fists started to raise, but Turbo was merely offing a handshake to seal the deal. No haggling, or arguing over this arrangement, wow, Turbo must be desperate to get his code box.

Vanellope took his hand and they both gripped pretty hard. They had agreed, but they didn't like it. The sooner it was over the better. "Shall we go now?" Turbo asked.

"Nuh-uh." Ralph said, "I got a special Bad Anon meeting I gotta get to in an hour. Tomorrow night, meet me outside Fix-it Felix Jr, and we'll do this."

Turbo made a face, but Vanellope beamed, "And I'll be waiting for you in Sugar Rush! Hey Ralphie, think you can talk Felix and Calhoun into joining us?"

"I can try!" Ralph answered.

"Oh, great, an armed escort..." Turbo muttered, crossing his arms angrily, but not arguing against this idea. He probably figured that he stood a better chance of getting what he wanted if he just went with it. Vanellope hopped back up on Ralph's shoulder, and the Wrecker turned around to leave, figuring that their business here was over. "Vanellope, wait." Turbo said suddenly.

Ralph turned around and saw Turbo walking toward them, one hand in his pocket, pulling something out, but he suddenly looked at Ralph and put it back. Instead of whatever it was he'd thought about doing, Turbo spoke up again, "Anyone can tell little lies and get away with it," He said, "But there's a secret to being able to tell a believable big lie, know what it is?"

"Unless you're admitting to lying to me yesterday, I don't really care Creep-o." She answered dismissively.

Turbo ignored her and gave his answer. "The secret is the truth. Tell a big lie with nothing concrete and everyone sees right through it, but wrap a lie in a little truth, it doesn't matter if something isn't exactly what you said it is, because part of it is true."

Vanellope didn't seem to understand, but Ralph did. That was exactly how Turbo had gotten him to believe him in Sugar Rush. By using two facts that were true, or at least partially true 1. Vanellope was a glitch and 2. she couldn't leave the game, wrapped around a big lie: he wanted to protect her from certain doom if the game was unplugged when Gamers saw her glitching. Ralph had bought it because he knew that Vanellope was a glitch, and that meant she wouldn't be able to escape. He never even thought to question that Vanellope wasn't a real glitch because those two true facts made his story believable.

But Turbo had also known that Ralph cared about Vanellope, and created a lie that took advantage of his caring, making him believe he was doing what was best for Vanellope.

Turbo wasn't just a liar, he was a manipulator too.

Ralph glared down at Turbo, and Vanellope cocked her head in confusion "So... what you told me last night was the truth?"

He looked at Vanellope as he did, with his hand clutching whatever it was in his pocket. "Part of it was." Ralph wanted to demand he show them what he was hiding, but Turbo pulled his hand free and walked passed them. "I'll be at Felix's the moment the arcade closes, don't keep me waiting."

He opened the door before Ralph could get another word in, Vanellope insisted that they'd had enough for tonight and they could get more out of him the next night. Ralph still wasn't happy, but when he re-entered the tavern Turbo was already slipping out the door and he was distracted by another loud groan from the tabled the T-Rated characters were sitting at. Ralph felt like that discussion had taken hours, but he snapped back to the reality that it had only been a few minutes as the card players started another round.

Ralph didn't understand the game as all, as far as he could tell, the hooded figures drew the two men a hand of cards and they set them on the table and groaned with no winner. How was this game played, why did they play it? It seemed like a no win scenario.

Kind of like their situation with Turbo.

And Chkalov.

Ralph turned away from the game, Vanellope had started talking about the day's races, the Wrecker nodded and made a few noises of agreement while he followed Turbo out the door, his mind else where. The other racer was nowhere in sight, and not even on the train out of Tappers. Ralph reflected on everything he had been told tonight. He had no idea if any of it was true, and he doubted a lot of it, but like Faolan and Jeremiah, all he could do was wait for his cards to be dealt and hope that somehow he'd win.

**Author's end note: **Thank you for reading, feedback is appreciated!


	9. Between Fate and Choice

**Author's Note: **Gonna lift moderating guest reviews now. Thank you all for being patient with me.

**Warning: **Ocs, The General's POV, misheard lyrics that my older sister insisted needed to happen. There are a couple of name-drop only Ocs mentioned in this chapter. A little violence and blood are in the paragraphs below as well as some language. Revealing the General's (first) name in this chapter. Ends on a cliff hanger.

**Disclaimer: **The world of Sugar Rush is copyright Disney, The General and Tofferita Chococream are my own creation. Sugar Rush the song belongs to AKB48.

Break with the Past

It would have saved them time, perhaps, if the General had a better understanding of how Sugar Rush's roster system worked. After he had determined that Tofferita could enter the code room and retrieve a box for him on her own, The General had sent her home right away, believing that she would need to be there for arcade hours. As it turned out, the little avatar had not entered the roster race so that she would have time to both help her friends in Half-Light, and meet him so they could practice for tonight's mission.

A whole day had been wasted thinking she had better things to do.

No matter, the General decided as Toffee led him down the rainbow bridge that would take them into her world. He had come to this game only once, fifteen years ago to determine if it would be a suitable game for his friend Turbo to take up residence in. Though he had decided that this game was compatible with Turbo's data, the General had been certain the half-mad racer would take one look at the sugar coated landscape and say no.

It was a curious, and certainly interesting world, nice to see once, but the General couldn't imagine trying to live here. After only a few minutes walking through he thought he was going to get diabetes just looking at all the different treats in the edible world. It must be a very special game indeed if Turbo had grown so attached to it, at least.

From the front entrance there was a clear road that led to the stadium where most of the residents were gathered for the race. Side roads branched off leading to the village and the castle by way of a lovely trail through the sugary forest. The General suspected that there may be a few of the games citizens wandering around not at the race, but luckily for him his little guide had become quite well known for having friends outside her game from the science fiction genre his own game had been. If anyone spotted them they would probably assume she was just showing yet another friend around her home.

"Actually it's probably better you came at night." Toffee had been speaking to him for sometime, mostly about the landmarks around the game, but the General had barely been listening. This comment intrigued him and he asked her for clarification, "Well, this is supposed to be a secret operation, right? Not everybody watches the races in the day time. There are hundreds of Candy Citizens and a lot of them sneak out after a couple of rounds and play out in the forest, same with the racers who aren't avatars for the days races. During arcade hours, they're all over the place, but at night they either go to their homes or out into the station."

"I see." The General nodded as he stepped off the bridge onto the flat ground. The sweet scent of the air was almost sickening, and the bright vibrant colors were making him a little dizzy, but if he had to specify one thing was bugging him more than anything, it was the background music. "Did they just say_ shoot me 'till you let me go_?" He asked raising an eyebrow, and not sure at all where the music was coming from.

She was skipping a head of him, dutifully explaining the differences between the types of candy trees on the edges of the forest path they were following. "Huh, who- Oh, the song. Sorry, after a while you just stop hearing it." Tofferita said, and answered, "No, Sugar Rush was originally a Japanese game but when they brought it over to America they left the song. Most of the lyrics are in Japanese, but I think the part you're mishearing is 'jump into your racing car'. Hee hee, _shoot me 'till you let me go_, that's funny. Best misheard lyrics yet!"

"I take I that means, other people mishear it?" The General asked. He'd opted to leave his cruiser behind for this mission, thinking that it would be best to walk and not draw attention to their journey.

"I think everybody does, it's probably their accents, another one I liked was somebody who thought the lyrics were _jumping jacks are good for you! Sugar Rush! Sugar Rush!_" She giggled and pointed to the large palace in the distance, abruptly changing the subject, "The code room is somewhere in the castle, right?"

The General took out a piece of tech called a Satellighte (not to be confused with satellite, he was often telling people) XB-8721 Model H, and lifted it towards the building in question, a blip on the screen confirmed this hypothesis. The General had to admit, Tofferita was much more perceptive than he'd initially given her credit for when he'd first laid eyes on her in Half-light Nexus a few days earlier. First having been able to deduce the location of the code room in Kart Khaos, and now in her own game as well. "Yes, it would appear so." He told the racer as he slipped the Satellighte back into his belt pocket. "If I may ask, what made you think to guess there first?"

He already knew where the code room was, simply using the Satellighte to allow Toffee to feel a little pride for herself. The racer didn't look at him as she replied, "When I was unlocked I woke up in the castle. I'd been wandering around a few minutes before I really understood that I existed, but I was in the castle. Other Unlockables also came from somewhere in the castle so I guessed that our code must be in there somewhere."

"Unlocked?" The General repeated.

Toffee's pace slowed down, and her feet dragged a little. "You probably heard about that creep who took over our game, right?" The General gave a confirming 'hm' but didn't say anything about the creep in question being the friend which they were making this trip to the code room for. "Well, when he came in he had to lock up a bunch of the racers. Actually, we were already locked up, he just sort of made it so we couldn't get out when Gamers achieved the requirements to Unlock us."

"Yourself among them?" He knew the answer, she'd said it a moment ago.

Toffee didn't call him out on it, instead she brought her hand up to her face, and because her back was facing him, the General couldn't see what she was doing. "It's okay, I guess. I mean, you don't really notice the passing of time when you're locked up. Most of us were just recolors anyway so it's not like the Gamers really noticed."

"What do you mean 'recolor'? I am unfamiliar with that term." He asked.

Tofferita stopped and turned around, it appeared for a moment that her eyes were watery, but she blinked and it was gone, "Someone like me." She answered, "I look exactly like one of the original racers, Crumbelina DiCarmello, the only difference is that I'm colored differently. Like I said, most of us Unlockables were recolors, mostly for when Gamers wanted to use the same avatars during races."

The General had a feeling that there was something Toffee hadn't said, and the watery look in her eyes had him more than a little concerned, but he wasn't sure if it was his place to ask what was bothering her. "I see," He said simply and continued, standing next to her now and kneeling down "So when Turbo- that's the guy's name, right?- died, you were Unlocked in the castle?"

"No, not when he died, a couple of weeks later." She said, "There are requirements for Unlocking characters, I needed Gamers to win the races with Crumbelina and Vanellope Von Schweetz back to back in order to be Unlocked. But, you see, when Turbo took over, he turned Vanellope into a glitch so she couldn't race. I wouldn't have been Unlocked if Vanellope hadn't come back into power."

The General pretended the news about Turbo turning Vanellope into a glitch was new to him, "I'm sure, he didn't mean to have you sealed away." He said, trying to be comforting.

"No, it's fine. No biggie, really, like I said, we didn't even notice, but..." Tofferita's eyes started to water up again.

The General cocked his head, "What's the matter?" He asked, and suddenly Toffee buried her face in his shoulder and started sobbing.

"I don't care that I'm an Unlockable! I don't even care that I never would have been Unlocked during his rule...!" She cried, weeping harder and the General patted her back, but his brows furrowed in confusion until Toffee's sobs subsided enough to finish, "But why did I have to be a _recolor_? Why couldn't I be an _original racer_?"

Though she had explained, the General still did not understand why Toffee was so upset. "Is there something wrong with being a recolor?" He asked soothingly, "What's so special about being an original racer?"

Tofferita pulled away from his shoulder to look him eye to tear filled eye. He was a scientist and a warrior, but the General was also human, it had shown in him last night when he spoke to Toffee about his game and found so much relief in having her hear it. The same thing was happening now with her, she was spilling out secrets and insecurities she'd kept to herself for a long time.

"More like what's so special about being a _recolor_..." She replied trying to wipe tears off her cheeks, only to have them replaced with fresh ones, "Crumbelina, Vanellope, Patty, Swizzle, Graham, and all the others... _they're_ the originals, the rest of us are just _copies_ of them!"

"But only physically." He tried to point out, but Toffee didn't find this to be any comfort as she continued.

"I was locked fifteen years longer than I should have been, and I'm finally let out... only to discover that I'm just a copy!" She sniffed, "I shouldn't be upset...I know...I didn't even notice the time pacing, but...what was the point of it all? There are hundreds of Sugar Rush cabinets with hundreds of Tofferitas and even more Crumbelinas and Crumbelina recolors! I'm just a copy of a copy! It's not fair! What would it take to be _special_?"

The General was beginning to understand now, this was a typical identity crisis that he had seen often enough when video game characters started to become self aware of the fact that out in the world somewhere there was another cabinet with someone just like them. He himself had gone through a period of questioning his own existence had help others through it. Yet, Toffee was taking it harder than anyone else he knew. Most of her life had been taken away from her, because of what Turbo had done, and the General could only imagine that hearing this news would be like for newly released characters.

To top that off she was the splitting image of one of the other characters, not a unique design like some of the Unlockables who also had also been freed.

He smiled knowingly at her."Does Crumbelina have other recolors like you?" He asked.

"Yes," Toffee nodded, "There's Jelli-"

He silenced her by putting his index finger over her lips, "Can any of them fly a spaceship?" She shook her head and he continued, "What about this Crumbelina you're recolored from, can she?" another shake of her head.

He picked her up and set her on his shoulder as he stood up and began walking towards the castle. "We are not defined by how we are programmed." He explained, "Wreck-It Ralph from Fix-It Felix Jr is hailed as a hero outside of the game, but by programming he is still the villain. You are a racer in this game, but out there, you are a Hero of Half-Light. What defines who we are can't be found in a line of code. It is our experiences, the people we meet and our actions that shape and reshape who each of us become. Look at this." He pulled off the glove on his light hand to reveal, not flesh and bone, but cold metallic alloy.

Tofferita stared in awe at his mechanical fingers, "You're a robot?" She asked.

"No, just this arm, and my left eye." He explained, "After my game was unplugged I lost this arm helping a young man who had lost his own game. He was a metal worker, and he made me this mechanical arm to thank me for my help. Call of Heroes, it sequels, and its spin off may have a character who looks like me, but that man will always have two functioning arms and both eyes. Because of what has happened to me, I am unlike any other version of myself out of hundreds of cabinets and thousands of games. You too are unique, because of what you are in Half-Light. Why, _our_ meeting has now made us even more unique. When this mission is over we will both walk away as more than what we were when we met-"

"-Because I know the code now?" Toffee asked.

He nodded, "You have learned something that none of the other recolors know, and you learned from _me_, so even if there is another Tofferita Chococream out there somewhere who can hack a game's code, they learned it under another circumstance and for a different reason. Our experiences together, however brief, have changed you and even if we never meet again after this mission is complete, you will never be the person you were before you met me."

This was sounding pretty preachy, but Toffee needed to hear it "You _are_ special, never think otherwise."

The racer was silent for a long time. They reached the end of the forest and were on the long path up to the castle when Toffee finally spoke up. "Will we see each other again, General?" She asked, pulling down the collar of his coat so she could look at his face, "When this is over, I mean. We will meet again, right?"

He didn't answer right away, "Is that what you want?"

She nodded, "Do you believe in destiny, General?"

This seemed like an odd direction for this conversation to take, but the General supposed that Toffee wouldn't have asked that question if weren't connected to what they were talking about. Still he thought about it for a while before finally answering, "I suppose that depends on what you mean by 'destiny'. Some games are programmed with a hero who overcomes adversity to fulfill a destined task, but that is exactly what that is, a program. Outside their game that hero is just another person and no program or gamer controls his actions."

"So you think destiny exists outside of game play?" Toffee continued.

"Hmm. I don't know. I like to think we have a choice in what becomes of us, rather than being pulled in a single flow toward some 'destiny'. What purpose would all our actions lead to anyway?"

Tofferita answered him, "Wreck-It Ralph left his game and saved mine, you don't believe he was somehow destined to do it?''

"Sounds like an accident and good luck." The General replied.

"So how about us meeting in Half-Light?" She continued, "You were on that island looking for ingredients for your magic potion, and I crash landed there after an alien attack. Both of us were in the game on the same night, even though neither of us should have been, but without Ralph I wouldn't be have been _unlocked_ to be there."

"Coincidence perhaps, though you're right that's a lot of coincidence happening." The General replied.

"I'm not done," Tofferita said, and the General realized that she was musing out loud. "Half-Light is a big game, it seems odd that I could crash onto the same island and get chased by aliens, but then run into you. And it just so happens that I'm from Sugar Rush when you need someone in Sugar Rush to do you this favor."

"Still doesn't mean that we were fated to meet, or that we are destined to meet again." The General said as they reached the castle doors and he tugged them open. Everyone should be at the roster race, except perhaps a few guards or minor staff members, but otherwise the castle appeared empty.

"Maybe not," Toffee replied as they passed through the doors and she hopped of his shoulder. "But I like to think that there's a reason for everything. I used to think that Turbo was able to take over Sugar Rush so that someday Ralph would become a hero and Vanellope could let the unlockables out so that my release somehow coincided with Half-Light Nexus being plugged it. That somehow it was my destiny to become friends with commander Thomka and her aviators."

"What happened in Sugar Rush was wrong," She said, referring to Turbo's take over, "But in the end it worked out for the better of everyone. Didn't it?" It must have seemed that way to her, Ralph became a hero, Vanellope was restored to her rightful place, and the unlockables were freed at last.

But there was one person she was forgetting.

"What about Turbo? I don't think death qualifies as a better end for his story." He said, feeling a little bad for his old friend. Death was only part of what happened to him, what came after was far worse, but best to not mention that to Toffee.

She didn't answer him. She had never met King Candy, the man Turbo had paraded around as for so many years. Nothing she could say about him would be fair since she did not know. The General regretted bringing it up and took advantage of her silence to change the topic off Turbo.

"And so then it was my destiny to get my game unplugged so that one day you and I would meet as well? And our meeting would lead the way to something even greater?" He suggested, Toffee nodded at him, and he took the lead, using his Satellighte to guide them to the code room "That's very optimistic thinking Tofferita, but I still prefer to believe that we have a choice."

She shrugged in response, "No, it's not." She said, "I'm not really the optimistic type. Everyone says I'm a pessimist." She dipped her hat over her eyes a bit.

"Do the heroes of Half-Light say that?"

"No."

The General led her into the thrown room, waiting behind a wall for some guards to pass. "Did you hear that the arcade's going to be closed for a couple of days?" A man's voice said, the General didn't bother looking out to see, but Toffee peered her head out curiously.

Another answered the first. "Yeah, some sort of construction thing going on in the Gamer world, Litwak's having the building renovated or something. We'll be back in business in three days or so, don't worry about it." Their voices faded as they vanished into another room for their patrol.

The General had already heard about this renovation, such things happened from time to time, as the second guard said, nothing to worry about, so he continued where he had Toffee had left off. "Do you know how people define optimists and pessimists?" He asked.

"One thinks the glass is half full, the other half empty." Toffee replied, "Why?"

"Because I don't think you're seeing a half empty glass." The General told her while they crossed the room together "You weren't satisfied being just a recolor racer, but you didn't just live with it or wait for something to happen. You decided to be proactive and seek out change for yourself. It doesn't matter if the glass is half empty or half full, you saw your chance and decided to drink what was in the glass."

"What's that make me then?" Toffee asked as they slipped behind the throne into a much smaller, hidden hallway.

They reached a tunnel that the General was too tall to fit through, "An opportunist." He replied and allowed himself a smile when Tofferita giggled. Suddenly his Satellighte beeped and the General glanced at it with surprise. A new dot had appeared on the screen, several miles away from their current location. The light blinked a couple of times before vanishing entirely. Only one thing could do that.

_She's here_... he thought worriedly and glanced behind them, "Toffee, something has just come up you will need to do this without me." He announced.

"Huh, what's come up?" the racer asked, there was a hint of concern in her voice, probably brought on by his declaration that he would be leaving.

He avoided the answer, instead deciding to change his course of action. "Don't worry, I'll stay in the castle, I'm just going to check out the perimeter."

"Check out the- what for?" His explanation hadn't eased her nerves at all and in fact appeared to make Tofferita even more frightened.

The General smiled kindly at her and knelt down to lift her hat off her face so he could see her eyes. "You'll do fine." He showed her the Satellighte and pointed to the two lights on the screen, "This dot here is us, that triangle there is the code room. I just got a reading a moment ago that means someone else is here."

There are lots of people here, but they aren't showing up on this thing." Toffee said poking the Satellighte. "And I don't see a third reading..."

He chuckled, "Someone from the same game series as me." He explained, "They can hide their location from me, I'm just going to go check out the area and make sure there isn't an armada waiting outside." Toffee cocked her head, but he patter her shoulder and stood up. "I'll only be a little bit, I'll come back for you once I know everything is secure."

Tofferita nodded at him, "You better be, 'cause if you want this codebox for your friend the only way you're getting it is to come back." and with that she turned around and dashed further down the tunnel. While he had been crouched the General could see a coil of licorice rope, which Toffee would be using to get in and out of the code room.

That left him to his own devices. He kept his pace calm as he walked away from the hall hidden behind the throne, but once he was no longer in hearing reach of Toffee the General broke into a run to the nearest window and stuck his head out. He gripped the windowsill and scanned the horizon, no ships, and no cruisers carrying passengers tracking his signal. His fingers loosened and he stepped back from the window as he glanced back at his Satellighte. Perhaps it was just a small glitch in his equipment?

The General sighed and began to wander the castle with his Satellighte held in front of him. It was possible for her to cloak her signal from his device, but only for so long before it appeared again. If it wasn't a glitch, then he should get a reading sooner or later. He went up a flight of stairs, to the balcony of one of the higher stories. Nothing. He continued down an empty hallway. Still nothing.

The General began to relax and lowered his Satellighte, assured for the moment that nothing was wrong. His assumption proven premature in only a second, another beep emanated from his Satellighte. The General barely had time to lift it for confirmation when another problem presented itself, "Hey! Who are you!?"

The General was startled by the sudden appearance of castle guards who looked and smelled like cookies. They were cookies of course, but were armed with pointed weapons aimed at him. He lifted his arms in quiet surrender, and put on an easy smile. "Oh, I don't mean to be any trouble, just looking around-"

"-What's that in your hand?" One of the cookie guards asked, probably the captain, but it was impossible to tell.

"Nothing." The General lied.

"Looks like one of them detonators form one of those violent games." Another guard said, maybe _he_ was the captain? The cookies encircled him, pointing their weapons ever closer to him. Not a good idea, but the General remained calm for now, "Did you plant a bomb somewhere in the castle?" The Second guard demand.

"No, this is a harmless piece of tech." The General said, not a lie of course the Satellighte was technically harmless, but he did let real lie slide off his tongue, "I'm from a recently plugged in game, I merely wanted to see the neighborhood, I did not mean to intrude."

The guards seemed divided as to whether or not to believe him. He heard a few whisper that they should escort him to the front gate while others said he should be kept prisoner. Finally the Captain(?) stepped forward, "Sir, I am going to have to ask you to come with us and wait in the fungeon for President Vanellope to return from the roster race and decide what to do with you."

The General lowered his hands, "You 'ask', hmm? Well, I say no to that idea."

The Guards tightened their grips on their weapons, "That wasn't a request." The Cookie guard restated.

"Tsk,tsk, then you shouldn't have made it sound like a choice." The General wagged a finger at him, "Regardless, I still choose not to wait in the dungeon, I have work to do."

He didn't wait for an argument to begin, instead, he jumped into the air and sailed over their, er, heads, and landed just behind the one he was assuming to be captain of the guard. Before they could turn around the General lashed out with his leg, and sent the captain flying passed the other guards, knocking a few others down in his wake. Quite pathetic, these guards were really, they toppled down so easily, the General wouldn't even need to use f on his weapons, or his serum.

"Come now, do you bastards really think you stand a chance against me?" Despite this boast, the General was not invincible, and the cookie guards were at least valiant. They swiped their weapons at him and ran around trying to surround the intruder again. The General danced out of their reach and knocked several of them back with well timed punches and kicks. They kept coming, pathetic, but brave and dedicated to their duty.

One blade managed to catch the General's arm, just below his elbow, he hissed with pain, but did not give any indication that the injury was serious. The General dashed away from the guards, only to have them keep dashing toward him. The General reached into his belt pocket and produced three small round objects from it which he tossed in their direction. The guards all backed away for a moment, alarmed at this action, but nothing happened and they made the mistake of charging again.

The orbs, were small flash grenades, the guards would have no permanent damage, but all of them laid stunned on the floor, not seeing or hearing anything while the General slipped passed them. They would come out of it soon enough, but more of greater concern, they would probably be discovered sooner. The General needed to get back to the code room, code box or no code box, another beep from his Satellighte confirmed that his time in this game was up for now.

He ran through the palace back to the throne room, the hidden hallway and reached the tunnel that led to the code room before he finally stopped and gripped his arm. He was bleeding pretty heavily from a surprisingly thin, but deep cut...must have hit an artery...not good. "Damn..." The General whispered, opened his coat and took a small emergence kit from a hidden pocket against his chest. Inside there was a pill which he dry swallowed and his cut healed instantly. The medicine was a ration from Call of Heroes he had been saving for emergencies and he was running short. Perhaps the next thing he should look into was synthesizing his own medical bonus.

Although the wound was now sealed, blood still soaked his sleeve, but hopefully the dark color of his clothes would keep anyone from noticing. Speaking of someone who would be noticing, the General did not see Tofferita in the hall, was she still in the code room? She shouldn't have been that long, he peered into the tunnel and saw the licorice rope still sitting coiled at the edge, tailing into the code room. "Toffee?" He called softly, hoping to only attract his companion's attention, not draw guards down here.

The response he got filled him with a quick icy dread, "General, help!"

Without a second thought, the general dove into the tunnel on his hands and knees and when he reached the door to the void of the code room, he saw the licorice rope dangling with no one on the end. Toffee was floating helplessly, drifting slightly away from the licorice rope. Part of it was still wrapped around her waist, but the rope had been severed some how. Toffee clutched a codebox to her chest, and continued to beg him to come help her.

"Toffee!" He cried, and grabbed the remains of the licorice rope pulling back the end and holding onto it as he jumped in after her, "Hold on, I'm coming!" He swam toward the racer, he had a little difficulty moving in the strange space of the code room, trying to hold onto the rope with one hand and grab hold of Tofferita with the other. As he got closer and closer he noticed Toffee's face was red and wet with tears, and she was also panting. How long had that rope been broken with her struggling to get Turbo's code box out?

"I got'cha, hang on." The General said as he caught hold of the rim off Toffee's jacket and pulled her towards him. She responded by clutching the code box tighter and he started pulling them back to the door, progress was slow, and Toffee started crying as they inched closer and closer, but at last he pushed her up onto solid ground and pulled himself after.

"I'm sorry...I-I'm sorry..." Toffee was hiccuping.

"Oh, no, it's alright, it's okay to be scared when something like that happens." The General reassured her.

"I w-wasn't scared, I knew y-you were coming back..." She replied still clutching the code box like her life depended on it, "b-b-but I screwed up." She said looking at the severed end of the rope.

The General picked it up, the candy was stretched and torn messily, probably stressed too much and broken apart. "This was an accident, you couldn't help it." He said.

Toffee let a few more tears drop down her cheeks and then wiped the away. These last ones were tears of relief, he realized, Toffee hadn't been afraid of being stuck in the code room, she was afraid he was going to be mad at her for breaking the rope. She lifted the box toward him, "Here." She said.

The General took the code box, it was a dark reddish-purple, unlit now that it wasn't attached to the game anymore, but also unlabeled. He applied a little pressure to the edges and the codebox began to shrink down until it was small enough to fit into his pocket and the General did just that. "Thank you Toffee, you did a good job." He told her. She smiled, even though her face was still red from crying, and the General was taken back to suddenly realize that the girl was actually quite pretty. But something crossed her eyes and she glanced to the ground with a frown. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"That code box..." She replied quietly, "It's _his_, isn't it? The guy who took over this game?"

Once more, Tofferita proved herself far more perceptive than he had initially thought, and the General found that he was unwilling to lie to her. He gulped, "Yes." He answered.

Toffee's gaze remained on the floor. "Does that mean he's still alive, then?"

Again, he couldn't lie to her, "Yes," the General said and bent down again, "But it's over Toffee, he's not going to come back to this game, that's why we're getting his codebox for him, so he can leave Sugar Rush forever."

Toffee stayed silent for a long time and they exited the tunnel together. She spoke up when they reached the throne room, not loudly, but the General still heard her whisper "Maybe this is how things will end up for the better for him..."

The General blinked and remembered their talk about destiny on the way to the code room. Toffee sure had a lot of faith in the idea that everything happened for a reason. Still, the General knelt down again to tell her something important. "Turbo isn't a bad guy...well, perhaps he is. He's a liar, he's manipulative, distrustful, secretive, and _dangerous_." Especially with that Cybug data now.

"Sounds like the ideal friend." She said sarcastically.

"Yes." He agreed, and quickly explained, "He's also brilliant, loyal and has outstanding follow-through, when he has an idea he commits to it. Trust me, it is far better to have a man like him as a friend, then to have him as an enemy."

"I see..." She didn't sound like she quite believed him.

The General gave her a smile anyway, and changed the subject. "You know what? I believe we had a deal, once you got me the codebox, I'd give you my name."

That turned her frown upside down, "What is it?" She asked eagerly.

He leaned closer until his face almost touched her and whispered into her ear. He pulled back and saw her eyes widen with surprise and confusion. "But that's the same as-"

He silenced her, "-When a game has continuity, it's bound to have a few things overlap." The General explained. He offered her a ride on his shoulder, he wanted to get out of the castle quick before more guards showed up, Toffee climbed up his arm. "Now if you don't mind, would you continue to refer to me as 'General'? If word got out I was still around..."

"Say no more, General, I understand. My lips are sealed don't worry!" She made a zipping motion over her mouth, "I really like your name though..." She said.

The General opened his mouth to reply, but the Satellighte beeped again. Damn, the signal was much closer now, his eyes went to the sky, expecting to see a figure on a cruiser, but still nothing. Must be on foot. The General kept a calm expression to try and Keep Toffee from worrying. "Well, Tofferita you believe in destiny and I believe in choice, so here's the deal." He said, "I _choose_ to come meet you again, and when we're alone, you can call me by my name, but only in private. Deal?"

He lifted his hand to his shoulder and offered his pinky. "Deal," she agreed wrapping her finger around his, "_Tadeusz_."

He smiled, it felt like a long time since anyone had used his first name so casually, "I need to get out of Sugar Rush now. My friend, Turbo, needs his codebox back and the sooner I return it to him the better. Where should I drop you off?" They had reached the edge of the candy tree forest by now and the General decided to stay on the trail where at least he didn't look like he was sneaking around.

"Can't I come with you?" Toffee asked, with a pleading tone "I didn't know King Candy, I promise I won't be mad at him for sealing me away!"

He laughed, "Oh, it would probably do him some good to meet you, but no. It's too soon. How about instead you give me a proper introduction to your friends in Half-Light?"

Toffee grabbed low hanging branch from a candy tree and pulled herself up, "Hmmm...Okay. So you'll go give Turbo his codebox, and meet me there or do you want to wait until tomorrow night?"

"I should stay out of sight for now, tomorrow would be better." He said and offered her his pinky for the second time.

Toffee reached forward with her pinky ready to accept this when her eyes suddenly darted behind him and went wide with terror, "General, watch out!"

He twirled around, and only had time to make out a black shape hurtling towards him...

**Author's end note: **I warned you this was going to end on a cliffhanger. Feed back is appreciated as always!


	10. Questions Half Answered

**Author's Note: **Thank you for returning. Once again, this chapter reveals a little bit more about what happened to Turbo between the Roadblasters incident and the Sugar Rush take over, but does not completely reveal it. Try to remember that this takes place at the exact same time as the last chapter. In case anyone misses it, the reason the two groups don't meet is because the General and Toffee met right away whereas these guys all had to wait on each other, and Tamora's logic works in the opposite way the General's does.

**Warning: **Felix's POV, some language, some not-quite-Vanillatastic scenes ;P, and another cliffhanger.

**Disclaimer: **None of the characters in this chapter belong to me, they all belong to Disney.

Break with the Past

"Tammy, I really don't think that's necessary." Felix tried to tell his wife.

She argued with him, "You think? What if Bug-boy here decides to cause trouble?"

"You po1ntInG thAt gun at m3 is what'5 g0nNa ca-u53 tRouBle!" Turbo hissed in response. His face was breaking up into pixels and switching between his various forms, Turbo, King Candy, and even the Cybug.

Ralph had returned from Tapper's the previous night with news about Turbo, and the proposition to take him to Sugar Rush to get his codebox. While the Wrecker didn't seem very keen on the idea at all, he also explained that it was much better that they accompany him to the code room and keep an eye on the hacker, rather than risk letting him go on his own. He had then offered both of them the opportunity to join the escort.

Felix knew the offer was mostly meant for Tamora, especially after Ralph continued by telling them that Turbo had implied that he could turn back into the Cybug he had become. Felix understood Ralph still harbored an utter hatred and secret fear of that creature, and Tamora's guns would be extremely useful if Turbo _did_ change...

...but he also didn't like the idea of letting them lead Turbo around at weapon point.

Eventually Felix agreed to come, if only to be the voice of reason when things started to get out of hand. Like they were right now.

When he and Ralph left their game they had found Turbo waiting for them, wrapped up in a cloak to hide from unwanted attention. He'd wanted to go straight to Sugar Rush to just get the trip over with, but they had to wait for Tamora, which clearly ate at Turbo's patience.

Upon her arrival though, they were also delayed with a short speech about "How this is going to work" Ralph would take the lead, Turbo behind him, which Tamora and Felix at the back. Turbo wasn't happy but he agreed to the formation. The former racer had been doing fine until the group had actually reached Sugar Rush, where upon entering the game, he ditched his cloak and immediately glitched into his King Candy form. Most likely it had been a subconscious reaction to being back in the game, but the change had startled Tamora into pulling a hand pistol on him.

Which only made the glitching worse. While they walked down the rainbow bridge that lead to Sugar Rush, Turbo's unstable form only made Tamora more edgy, which got Ralph edgy, which in turn only made _Turbo_ more edgy. "That's enough!" Felix said sternly, "Tammy, he's probably right. I think your gun is doing more harm than good right now, so please, just put it away."

Tamora glanced at him with narrow eyes, but nodded and complied. Turbo's glitching calmed immediately, but didn't quite stop, which Felix figured was just Turbo trying to settle his code between his original form and the King Candy data. Tamora put her pistol back in its strap at her side, but her fingers remained over it, just in case. Felix knew there was something else on her mind that had his wife on edge. At first he thought it had to do with Chkalov, but when he asked her Tamora had replied that the lieutenant still had yet to do anything suspicious. It was something else. Something that had started that same night, when they had gone into Half-Light Nexus.

_"I thought I just saw...Nevermind."_

Felix had asked her about what she thought she had seen later that night, but had only gotten cold silence in response and decided not to press it, though a reassuring hug had been his way of telling her everything was going to be alright.

If only it would be though.

"Hey guys!" Vanellope's voice called out, and she ran up to join them just as they reached the ground. "Turbo." She greeted with less enthusiasm and even a hint of ridicule. He responded with a huff and turning his head, refusing to look her in the eye. On the bright side he seemed to have finally gotten his glitching body to focus.

"Alright, new order." Tamora said, "Ralph stay a head of the group, Felix, Vanellope, I want one of you on either side of him at all times, and I'll bring up the rear. I don't want to draw any attention to us so we're going to cut through the forest. Let's move out"

In theory this was a good plan, everyone would be at the roster race, but if anyone wasn't, they'd only see this famous group of friends hanging out together in the candy tree forest. They got into formation, but when Ralph started toward the trees, Vanellope and Felix came after him, but Turbo didn't budge. "Hey Pipsqueak! I said _move out_!" Tamora said a little harshly.

To make up for his wife's bluntness, Felix added more gently, "Something wrong, Turbo?" but he already knew the answer, it was written all over his face. Turbo hadn't moved an inch from when he'd turned away from Vanellope, and his gaze was now directly on the stadium. Turbo's expression had melted with longing to be out on that track, he probably would have given anything to be in the race right now.

Vanellope had noticed his gaze too, Felix was a little concerned she might snap at him, but the young girl's expression had softened upon seeing the look in the other racer's eyes. She must know exactly what Turbo was feeling right now, but instead of being mad at him for it, she pitied him. Felix felt very proud of her for a moment.

A moment that didn't last long enough because a second later Vanellope snapped her fingers in front of Turbo's face. "Hey, Space-Case! Do you want your codebox or not?"

The racer in white came out of his trance with a growl, seemingly not even noticing the fact that he had been staring out at the race track for well over a minute "If you don't want to draw attention to our group then maybe we should cut a few members." He muttered, "My vote goes to the gorilla and the guerrilla."

Thankfully only Felix and Vanellope were close enough to hear that comment, otherwise the carpenter had no idea how Ralph and Tamora would have responded. They made it to the candy trees without further incident, but an uncomfortable silence started to rise. Nobody in this group wanted to be here, at least not like this. If Ralph had his way, he probably wouldn't let Turbo within a mile of the castle, Tamora was distracted with her own thoughts, Vanellope seemed to be regretting agreeing to let so many people join this little quest, Turbo obviously didn't want so much company and Felix...

The awkwardness of the silence was getting to him.

He had so many things he wanted to ask Turbo, but also knew that getting the truth out of his former friend would be no easy task, and even if it was, would anyone believe him? Ralph had caught them up on Turbo's admittance that there was no way to trust him, but Felix finally decided that he could at least ask and decide later if Turbo was being truthful or not.

"So, Turbo..." He said nervously glancing at the racer beside him while he tried to decide where to start. Ralph looked over his shoulder at him, his eyebrows furrowed as if he were offended that Felix was even talking to the other character.

But Felix had known Turbo much better than Ralph had before what had happened. He noticed things about him that Ralph didn't, there was an almost physical change in the racer. Turbo held himself differently, his face was harder, and was a lot twitchier than Felix remembered. Though that twitchiness could probably be attributed to intimating presence of Ralph and Tamora, Felix had also noticed it when they met him outside of Fix-It Felix Jr. His eyes darted around, his face had an occasional involuntary spasm, and he couldn't seem to stand still. Even a moment ago when Turbo had been looking out at the race track he had been rolling his fingers against his side and tapping his foot.

"Well, if ya got somethin' ta say Felix, spit it out, we haven't got all night." Turbo snapped, not even looking at him as he continued walking. He didn't remember his friend's temper being that short either.

"I beg to differ," Tamora replied, "Seems to me like we've got a _long_ night ahead of us."

Turbo rolled his eyes, something that Felix was glad only he and Vanellope could see, "What do you want Felix?" He said, a little bit more politely this time around, but still sounding pretty annoyed.

"Well..." Felix took his hat off and turned it around in his fingers, "I don't know Turbo, I've just got so many things I want to ask you."

"Don't we all?" Vanellope piped up.

"I bet'cha do. But who are you to believe me, even if I decide to answer your questions?"

One of the many pieces of advanced technology that Tamora took with her everywhere beeped and she paused a moment to take a look at it. The sugar particles in this game frequently messed with her gear so she had to keep an eye on it to make sure she wasn't getting a false reading. "I got a question or two for you as well. So let's just assume for a minute that you're gonna tell the truth, and why don't we all ask a question?"

"Oh, no. I agreed to play prisoner, but I didn't sign up for twenty questions." Turbo argued, sticking his hands in his pockets defiantly, but too late everyone was agreeing that this seemed fair, or at least a good way to pass the time while they continued to make their way to the castle, which never seemed to get any closer.

"Me first!" Vanellope insisted, after Turbo finally relented 'since you're only assuming I'm telling the truth'. The female racer took a moment to organize her thoughts and pick which of her own questions she wanted answered most, "Last night you said part of the story you told me was true, which was it?"

Felix saw Turbo tense, almost like he was grasping something in his pockets, but more likely he was getting defensive about the question. Turbo relaxed just as suddenly, and an amused grin spread over his face, "Well, there _were_ other racers, their names _were_ Split, Haste, and Double, and they _are_ all dead now."

This didn't satisfy Vanellope's question at all, but Felix was able to back him up. "I remember those guys. A bunch of bad eggs if you ask me. Why, if anyone was gonna go Turbo, I would have thought for sure it would have been one of them." It took Felix a minute to figure out why the racer was glaring at him, which he quickly responded with an honest, "Oh, s-sorry."

Vanellope's cheeks puffed out, this still wasn't the answer she was looking for, but Tamora beat her to a new question. "Why bother lying at all?" She growled, shaking her still beeping piece of tech.

"Lying is easy." Turbo replied as he, Vanellope and Felix struggled to climb over a candy tree log that Ralph and Tamora both stepped over with ease. "Telling the truth though, that's the hard thing."

"Why's that?" Ralph asked.

"'Cause if yer gonna tell someone the truth, that means ya gotta face it yerself." Turbo answered, looking at his shoes, obviously the questions striking a sensitive cord.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ralph demanded, turning around to look at Turbo and continuing his way walking backwards.

The racer only smiled at him, "Sorry big guy, one question per round please. You're up Felix." Ralph turned back around angrily. At some point within the last two minutes Turbo had decided to make this some kind of game where he could manipulate the questions asked and give only vague meaningless answers. Obviously he thought that Felix would continue the line questioning by repeating what Ralph had just said.

But there was something else that Felix wanted to know, something that had been bugging him since he had found out Turbo was still alive. "If you survived, your game getting unplugged...Why did you go into hiding instead of asking for help?" He said quietly, looking directly at Turbo who was still smirking gloatingly at the back of Ralph's head.

Turbo stopped dead in his tracks after Felix asked, and his expression dropped, Tamora almost tripped over him. The question had caught Turbo off guard, and he was struggling for an answer. "Whattya expect after what I did, that a charity would open up? That the everyone in arcade would donate to the 'find Turbo a new home' fund?" He said at last, his voice was bitter, full of old anger picking up his feet and continuing, "I'd have to save the whole damn arcade before anyone would willing let me in their game- and I'd hAve to be the only 1 who could befor3 they trusted me to! Like anyone woulda helped _me._" he was glitching again, but only slightly.

"I would have." Felix offered, he got a glare from Ralph for saying so, a betrayed look from Vanellope, and Tamora hitting her device angrily.

Turbo only snorted, "_Yeah r1ght_, Mr. Fix-It's Got7a fix _everything_, doesn't he?" He folded his arms against his chest, squeezing himself tightly and calming his glitching before he continued, "The entire arcade turned their backs on me, why should I believe _you_ would have been any different?"

The response hurt Felix pretty deeply, his voice raised a little bit, frustrated with how stubbornly Turbo believed that."Because I was your friend." Felix replied, feeling a stab of guilt over the fact that, eventually, he had succumbed to the rumors that had been going around about what Turbo had done, "And friends help each other through the hard times, now why didn't you come ask me for help? Was what you decided to do so much better than coming out and facing what you'd done?"

There was another question, buried within this one, that the twitch in Turbo's face indicated he'd picked up on. What had happened to him between then and now that he had made him like this?

Turbo still remained quiet, tensed up, and full of anger for a long time before his posture relaxed again. "There are somethings you can't fix, even with a magic hammer, Felix." The racer's voice cracked a bit as he spoke. This response could have been a reference to the two games that had been unplugged, Turbo was right, he couldn't fix that with all the magic in the arcade...

But the way Turbo said it also sounded like he was also answering the hidden question. What happened to him afterward that changed him so much? Something that even Felix couldn't fix.

"You still could have at least come ask..." Felix said sadly, wondering what would have been if Turbo had.

The same thing was obviously crossing the racer's mind, and he drifted closer to Vanellope, it hurt Felix a little more seeing Turbo prefer to stand beside a girl who had every right to hate him than his old friend. Felix watched Turbo rub at his eye, but couldn't tell if this was just a random action or if the racer was trying to hide a tear.

Vanellope hadn't noticed Turbo step closer, "Okay my turn again." She was saying, "Why Sugar Rush?"

"Yeah, there are tons of other racing games." Ralph added, once again turning around, maybe trying to detect a lie, maybe just bored.

"You can't just put yerself into _any_ game," Turbo replied, eyes on the ground again, "Yer data needs to be compatible or else you can't regenerate." He didn't elaborate. "Your turn blondie, what's your question?" He changed the subject abruptly, like he didn't want to go into detail about Sugar Rush. His data was compatible with the world, that was his answer and all he was willing to say about it.

Tamora didn't reply, she had her eyes on her tracker again, she looked concerned about whatever reading she was picking up, "I think we'll skip my turn." She said at last, "I'm picking up a signal I want to check out. You guys go on ahead of me, I'll catch up...And if I see that Cybug of yours, I will shoot you right out of the sky. Understood?"

"Y3s, wha7eveR." Turbo glitched again, but only for that brief moment, the Cybug reacting to being threatened, however Turbo got handle on it really fast.

Felix touched her leg as she passed, knowing her recent secret worries, and having noticed the look of concern on her face, he knew that whatever it was, it was bigger than she was letting on, "Be careful." He said.

"I'll be back before you miss me." She replied with a hint of a smile, and then took off in a different direction, moving much faster and quieter than they had been as a group. Which was odd because Felix thought they'd been making great progress...Still that castle looked as far away as ever.

Without Tamora, Ralph skipped to his own question, "Alright, if your data is compatible with Sugar Rush, why did you turn Vanellope into a glitch and take over, wouldn't it have just been easier to ask her to let you in?"Turbo went silent again, "Hey, _did you hear me_?"

Turbo still said nothing, and Vanellope answered for him, "The other night he told that me he _did_." She said, then glanced at him, "Is this your way of saying that was the truth? Because I don't remember that."

The older racer was turning into stone, refusing to answer or even look at them, only withdrawing further and further the more questions they asked about Sugar Rush. Felix realized they were going to lose him at this rate and decided to change the subject. "Okay, I think that's enough questions for now, let's give him a break." Vanellope and Ralph still protested, but Turbo's continued silence eventually made them quit. "So how about that construction Litwak has planned? Starts tomorrow and the arcade's not going to be open for at least three days. It's been a while since we've had a couple of days off, huh?"

"The arcade's closing?" Vanellope asked, she had been so busy lately what with her racers fighting and now with Turbo, Felix didn't blame her for not hearing about it.

"Yeah, I hear Litwak's planning on expanding the building to include a small lunch area." Ralph said.

"They might be cutting the power to make some adjustments to the electrical system." Felix added, and noticed Turbo relaxing again now that the topic of conversation was no longer about him. It was a little strange to see, Turbo always used to love talking about himself. Whatever had happened really shattered his ego. Which, now that Felix thought about it, made the King Candy disguise make a lot more sense.

"Wait, cut the power? Wouldn't that kill us?" Vanellope asked worriedly.

Felix and Ralph were both about to explain when Turbo laughed, the first sound that had come out of him in several minutes, "Don't be silly Sweettart! An arcade doesn't last as long as Litwak's without a few power outages!"

While this was true, it didn't tell Vanellope anything and was hardly reassuring to the young girl. Felix took the opportunity to explain, "See, we're only in danger if the game is unplugged, but if the power is just out our worlds are still there. We just aren't connected to _theirs_ anymore."

Ralph continued, "The worst that happens to us is that all our in game-electricity goes out too. The trains won't work until they get the power back on and anything not self-powered goes kaput. For scheduled things like this, it's best to already be in the station or which ever game you wanna be hanging out in when they cut the power."

"Any food based game where they need to keep stuff refrigerated has it the worst, 'cause they gotta reset their game and get fresh stock before Gamers start playing." Turbo added, almost looking like his old self now, "So don't get your ponytail in a knot, Sweetart, everything's gonna be fine!"

Even Ralph laughed, sharing a memory or two of Chef Peter Pepper's rushed sales to get his burgers sold before the ingredients went bad. If only things could stay this calm between them, Felix would have liked to spend the rest of the trip the them talking and laughing peacefully like old friends.

They came to a fissure in the ground, ahead of them was a high chocolate river with a fast current. This wasn't right, they shouldn't have been near a river, they must have distracted themselves too much while they were talking and gotten turned around. The castle was still in view, at last seeming closer, but they couldn't reach it if they didn't find some sort of crossing.

The group wandered along the edge of the tree lined ravine, until at last they spotted a fallen candy tree that, after making sure it wasn't a double stripe, Ralph was able to drag over to the cliff side and make a bridge.

Still, the river was high, and the current only stronger here then when they had first come across it, so they were careful about crossing. As the heaviest, Ralph went first, if it collapsed under him he was also the most likely to not drown in the river. The wrecker went slowly anyway, still terrified of falling in, but after several tension filled minutes, Ralph made it across and waited on the other side for them to join him.

The two racers went together, one right after the other, and Felix just behind them. The three of them combined didn't even weigh half as much as Ralph so they didn't worry about the bridge collapsing and instead focused on staying balanced.

"W-whoa!" Vanellope slipped and almost went toppling into the river. To Felix and Ralph's great relief, Turbo caught her, even though he almost lost balance himself in the effort and held her steady. He could have let her fall, she would have been pulled under the surface and tossed around until she drowned, and regenerated else where, but Turbo had risked saving her. "Th-thanks." Vanellope gasped.

Maybe there was still something good in him after all. "Whatever." Felix shook his head at Turbo's nonchalant response, but it was still better than letting Vanellope fall in.

Felix hoped that would be the only excitement the night had to offer, but as they finally made it safely across the river once again they were taken by surprise. Vanellope hopped off the log, Turbo behind her when from the tree tops several strands of Laffytaffy swirled around them, laughing and singing.

"Hey!" Ralph shouted, as they blocked the way between him and the two racers. Felix got the same treatment, left still on the log with the Laffytaffy giggling at him and surrounding Vanellope and Turbo.

"Cut that out!" Vanellope shrieked, "Hey, c'mon, what are you doing? Let go of me!"

"Oh, _please_, I don't have time for- Hey, whoa-" Turbo protested as the Laffytaffy wrapped itself around each racer and shoved the two of them together. Obviously the strange sentient candy thought very highly of Turbo's heroics because they were not only singing and laughing, but talking and making demands now, too.

"Put your arms around each other!" One with a high feminine voice cooed, the request was echoed by several other strands.

"What? No!" Vanellope cried and started struggling more against the Laffytaffy that bound her. "Don't you dare touch me you creep!" She warned.

"I wouldn't want to touch you anyway, so don't yell at me!" Turbo argued, struggling fruitlessly himself.

"Do it! Hug him!" The Laffytaffy encouraged, "Hug! Hug! Hug!"

"Augh, get out of the way-Hey, let go!" Ralph's attempts to get closer and separate them was averted by taffy strands binding his arms and holding him back, for a chewy stretching candy, it was pretty tough stuff.

Felix's approach was to back away, standing back over the river. He was reminded of when he and Tamora had their own encounter with the Laffytaffy, it had sang and laughed for them too, but Tamora had scared it off before anything else happened. Did Laffytaffy always behave in this matchmaking way?

While Turbo and Vanellope continued their protests and Ralph only managed to get himself more tangled up, Felix sighed and figured there was only one way that they would get out of this. "If they hug, will you let us pass?" He asked the taffy in front of him. The racers both made accusatory comments he wasn't going to ever tell his wife about.

"Maaaaaaybeeeee." The candy replied.

Better than nothing, "Okay you two, just get it over with!" Felix called, only to get a set of groans in response, "Turbo, if you want your codebox, do it, these things won't give up."

"Yeah, you'll be here a long time! Hug!" The Laffytaffy cackled.

They both groaned again, but Turbo rolled his eyes, raised his arms and slid them around Vanellope, not looking at her instead casting his gaze over to Ralph to make sure he wasn't signing his death warrant. Vanellpe leaned into his chest, refusing to look at him either, but wrapping her arms around his waist to make the Laffytaffy happy. Both of the were red as beets, but there was a collective "Awwww!" From the candy around them, delighted squeals and approving giggles.

However the taffy didn't budge, instead the one that had first insisted the two hug floated by Turbo's head. "Good." it said, "_Now kiss her_!"

"Oh _no_!" Turbo and Vanellope both yelled, but there was yet another universal shriek of delight from the rest of the nest of candy, all of them demanding, yes, do it. And Felix had to shout to make sure the racers heard him tell them to just get it over with. He was still being pushed back across the river, and Ralph was now being held upside down and gagged by the Laffytaffy.

"Do it, and you can go. One little kiss, come on!" The taffy insisted.

Vanellope made a face and struggled harder against the taffy holding her by the waist and legs. Turbo seemed like he would sooner murder her, but rolled his eyes again and shut them tight, cupped her chin and forced Vanellope into a kiss. The girl immediately froze with her own eyes going as wide as dinner plates. Ralph looked like he was about to explode, and Felix was feeling a little second-hand humiliation for the two rivals.

The Laffytaffy squealed again, but finally started unwrapping itself from everyone and retreating back into the trees, just as Turbo let her go and wiped his mouth. Vanellope promptly started gagging and spitting, "Yuck! You taste like motor oil!"

"Oh, quit'cher whining, I didn't even use my tongue!" Turbo snapped back at her.

"Then what was that I felt against my gums?"

"Probably your imagination, Sweettart 'cause I didn't do anything!"

"Waaaugghh-Ooof!" The ground shook when Ralph was dropped, the vibration made Felix lose his balance and almost fall off the candy tree bridge. Turbo and Vanellope were too busy arguing about the kiss to notice the carpenter hanging by his elbows over the river, and Ralph was disorientated from his fall. Felix kicked at the air and tried to heave himself back up, but to no avail. He was left dangling there helplessly while Turbo and Vanellope kept bickering.

"Oh Mother of Monkey Milk, you weren't _enjoying_ that were you?" Vanellope started gagging again.

"Uh, fellas... little help!" Felix begged, but was ignored.

"Of course not, were you?... Oh, oooohhh, Milk my Duds! You _were_! Hahaha! Add that to my list of titles, Sweettart, Turbo: the greatest _kisser_ ever!"

"Call me Sweettart one more time, and I'll punch you in your kisser!"

Ralph finally shook his head clear of his dizziness and opened his mouth to yell at Turbo but Felix called out first "Hey!" He shouted, "Can you sort out who was enjoying what _after_ I'm on solid ground?!"

"Felix!" Ralph knocked Turbo over on his way over, probably on purpose, but had Felix hauled to safety in no time. He dusted himself off and insisted that they drop it and just get to the castle and code room. Felix had just about had enough of this game to last him a whole week now, he didn't want anymore surprises.

Little did he know the biggest surprise of the night was yet to reveal itself.

"I did not enjoy that kiss." Vanellope muttered, still bright red with her hands buried deep in her sweatshirt pockets, as they started off towards the castled again, sort off looking a little like Turbo had earlier in their journey.

"You keep telling yourself that." Turbo teased with a wide smug grin. Maybe he had enjoyed it himself, or maybe he hadn't, but he was certainly enjoying Vanellope's reaction right now.

"I said drop it!" Felix said, sounding a bit like his wife, "Come on, let's go before the Laffytaffy has me and Ralph do a dance routine for them."

Up in the trees the taffy giggled at that idea and the group hurried along before the candy decided to go along with that plan. Yet they hadn't made it out of hearing range when one of them suddenly giggled "It sure is nice to see those two together again. It's been what, fifteen years?"

Vanellope stopped, "What?" Turbo only quickened his pace, and Felix hustled the girl along while Ralph glanced back questioningly. "Wait a minute, Turbo, what were they talking about?"

The other racer didn't reply right away, and Felix thought he might be withdrawing again, but Turbo finally spoke up, "Not the first time we ran into that bunch." he answered vaguely.

Ralph turned, "What's that supposta-"

The wrecker was cut off by a sudden shout and scream that made all of them jump. "That sounded like Toffee!" Vanellope gasped.

"Who?" Turbo asked glancing around.

Before anyone could answer there was more wordless shouting, two other stronger voices, a male and female. "Tamora!" Felix recognized his sound of his wife's battle cry, and ran off in the direction the sounds were coming from, leaving the others no choice but to chase after him.

The shouts led them to a clearing, no...not a clearing, the path to the castle. Had they been that close to it the whole time? Felix looked around desperately, but saw no one. Until a black shape landed heavily in front of him, causing the short man to jump back. Tamora? The character was dressed in black and had pale blond hair about the same length, but was clearly male, and a few years older than the sergeant from Hero's Duty.

But blond hair wasn't the only thing the two had in common. The man on the ground had the same blue eyes that Tamora Calhoun did, and sharp dashing features just like hers, only more defined, with a stronger, stubble covered jawline. He looked so strikingly similar to Tamora that he could have been her brother.

Felix was almost right with that thought.

"General?" The gasp came from Turbo, making Felix glance back only briefly to see the racer's eyes widened with surprise, turning back to the fallen figure he saw the same confused look from him at Turbo's presence. Another black shape dropped down beside him. This time it was the sergeant, armed with her largest gun, and unhurt, Felix's heart thudded with relief. It didn't last that long as Tamora ignored his presence and stamped her foot down hard on the stranger's chest, causing him to yowl painfully.

"What are _you_ doing here?" She hissed, aiming her gun at the man on the ground.

"Calhoun...?" Ralph started, but she paid him no more attention than she would if he were thin air.

"General!" Another voice called, the same one who's scream had startled them in the first place. The group glanced up to see Tofferita Chococream hopping from candy tree to candy tree after them. She stopped only when she could get no closer without jumping out of the tree. Everyone except Tamora and the mysterious 'General' shared a confused worried glance before turning their attention to the two black clad characters.

The man the sergeant had pinned coughed and gave a small laugh, lifting his hands in surrender "You know a simple 'hello' would have sufficed, Tammy."

Felix glanced from his wife to the stranger in confusion and she finally seemed to notice the group. Tamora gave them the quickest acknowledging glimpse before turning her hard gaze back to the man before them, and answering the question no one had asked: who was this guy?

Her grip on the gun remained tight and her look was as hard as ever, as Tamora didn't even move the barrel out of the stranger's face. "Hello, papa." She said at last.

**Author's end note: **Classes are starting (I'm in college so my schedule is quarter based, not semester) so I don't know how often I'll be able to update this or if school will have any effect on my writing time. Keep your fingers crossed, I hope to not keep you hanging on this chapter for long.


	11. Disequilibrium

**Author's note: **It all goes to Hell from here, I'm glad I've been able to keep surprising you guys, and I'm not done with those surprises, but play time is over and it's gonna get pretty scary in this fic now.

**Warning: **Calhoun's POV. Remember last chapter I casually said the biggest surprise of the night had yet to reveal itself? I wasn't necessarily talking about the General. Language, violence, attempted sexual assault. Scary imagery. I guess the ending of this chapter is a cliffhanger too.

**Disclaimer: **As you can imagine, all recognizable characters from Wreck-It Ralph belong to Disney, the trio of the General, Tofferita Chococream and Lieutenant Chkalov belong to me, except for the reappearance of my sister's OCs.

Break with the Past

"General Tadeusz Calhoun," Tamora spat, the barrel of her gun still aimed at the face of the man on the ground, "Father of the Cybugs."

"Actually, Dear, I'm _your_ father." He replied with an easy going smirk, "I had absolutely nothing to do with the Cybugs."

Her weapon buzzed with warming up energy, "The experiment was based on your research." She growled, "Which makes you guilty in my book."

"A _bastardization_ of my work." The General countered, "And if I may point out, I'm not the Tadeusz from the time period Hero's Duty is set in. The game _I_ came from takes place a good 20 years before yours does."

Tamora snorted, it was true of course, the latest images of General Calhoun available in the databases of her game depicted a much older man with self inflicted burns and scars on his face from his incalculable experiments on himself. Part of her knew it was only programed back story, none of it was real, but because of _this man_ she had struggled her whole life to escape the legacy of the Calhoun name and forge one for herself.

She deflected his objection by continuing to hold her gun to him, "I believe I asked you a question." Tamora said coldly, "_What are you doing here_?"

The man opened his mouth to answer but another voice piped up "Sergeant, no!" As quickly as if _she_ had the teleporting abilities the president was famous for, Tofferita Chococream appeared in front of the barrel. Standing on the General's chest with her arms spread, Toffee shielded the General with her own body because she knew, even if the racer could regenerate in her own world, Tamora wouldn't shoot a child.

However, Toffee wasn't the only one that came to his defense. Turbo pushed through the others, taking a place at the General's side, the Cybug markings clear as day on his face and hissing in waring. Ralph raised his arms, ready to do some wrecking if a fight broke out while Felix shielded Vanellope. "Everybody_ calm down_!" Tamora's husband cried out, making all eyes turn to him. "Let's start at the beginning, okay? Girls, let him up please, let him explain himself."

Toffee stepped off his chest obediently, but Tamora hesitated, this man had a reputation in her universe, but as was already pointed out he was an earlier version of the character, and his programming had nothing to do with his personality. She had only to look and Ralph to remember that. Everyone was expecting her to give him a chance, so finally Tamora relented and took both her gun and foot off him.

The General didn't stand, he _jumped_, propelling himself up with his arms and kicking out with his legs, landing a blow to Tamora's midsection that knocked the breath out of her and caused her to stumble back. On his feet, he kicked again as she tried to regain her balance, this time hitting her wrists and causing her to drop her gun. The General snatched it before Tamora could right herself. The attack had happened, and was over, so fast that none of the others had time to do much more than gasp before the General had the gun pointed at Ralph, whom he deemed the biggest threat.

Fortunately Tamora was armed with more than one weapon and also quickly had her hand pistol out and aimed at the General's head. Gasps arose all around but everyone was too afraid of starting a fight to do anything. The General started to laugh, softly at first but louder and surprisingly friendly, "Well, looks like you grew up to be daddy's little girl after all." He said, and dropped the gun he had taken from her "You can put that down, I just wanted to be sure your friend there wouldn't do anything stupid."

Ralph objected to the claim, and Vanellope crept forward to pull Turbo and Tofferita back, but Tamora held her gun still at his head, "After what you just pulled, I don't think so." She growled, "And I'm _not_ daddy's little girl." This only made the General laugh again.

"Don't do say that, you sound just like Cybele." He said. "It's a little unnerving really."

"Cybele?" Felix repeated.

Tamora's eyes flashed angrily, "Don't you dare talk about my mother so casually." She growled, "You know she was a victim of those monsters you created too."

Tadeusz Calhoun turned around with his hands raised in surrender, still sporting a friendly smile, "Didn't I already tell you, I had nothing to do with the Cybugs?...Hmm.. heheh, Cybele, Cybug...Why, I think one of the programmers thought he was being really clever."

"Don't make a joke of this! It was _your_ research, your _fault_." Tamora his at him, finally putting her gun down. Tears stung at her eyes, "Do you have any idea what you put me through? How many doors were slammed in my face the moment someone found out who I was?"

"Gee, I wonder what _that's_ like?" Turbo said suddenly and sarcastically, Vanellope tried to hush him, but he stepped forward again, "What do you think it's been like for us since we got our games unplugged, huh? You got nothing to complain about sister, your imaginary memories are nothing compared to what the Outcasts have been through!"

"Outcasts?" Tamora repeated.

Her father replied, "Anyone who's ever gotten their game unplugged. No one wants to help us so we help each other."

At least their stories matched up, but Tamora gestured to Turbo, "We've already heard that load of bullroar from _this_ treacherous little snake, why in the name of Litwak should we believe _you_?" She demanded.

The racer growled again, but Tadeusz silenced him with a glance, "Because Turbo is a _pathological_ liar, I however, only lie when it is necessary, which is not the case for now. You want to know what I'm doing in this game, I just had Toffee here help me to retrieve Turbo's codebox-"

"-That's what _we_ came for." Turbo muttered but his comment went unnoticed as Tofferita backed up the General's claims.

"If you don't believe him, then believe me." She said, "He didn't tell me that's what we were doing, but he also didn't lie to me about it when I figured it out myself."

Tamora wiped at her eyes, angry and annoyed. Toffee was a good girl, the type to explore and discover even at the cost of being considered a pest, but the racers of Sugar Rush tended to be a little naïve and too trusting. "How do you know Turbo's codebox was _all_ he came for?" She tried to reason, "You have no idea what he could have done while he was in the code room-"

"-He was never in the code room!" Toffee defended, "That's what I was here for, he taught me how to get in and _I_ got the codebox for him."

"Where is it?" Turbo wanted to know looking at Tofferita now that he knew the girl had touched his codebox.

"Relax, I have it." Tadeusz assured him, "And now that we do, you can relax as well. We're leaving before construction begins and they cut the power, you won't have to worry about us ever again."

"What do you mean 'leaving'?" Felix asked, "Where are you going?"

"Outta the arcade. Where do you think we can go?" Turbo answered.

Everyone blinked at him and Tadeusz clarified, "There is a train beneath the main station that leads to the arcade's electrical systems. Through it we can access Litwak's computer, or maybe follow the power lines to another building. Word has already been sent to the remaining Outcasts, we'll be gone before tomorrow morning, at least if you allow us. Unfortunately, this arcade has left us with no other option but to abandon ship and stat afresh elsewhere."

Tofferita looked shocked and heart broken, "B-but you said-"

He smiled at her, "Don't worry, I'll come back and visit you like I promised." The General told her, "But we can't stay in this arcade anymore, not now that people are starting to realize we're here."

"How many of you _are_ there?" Ralph demanded.

"Everyone who's ever been responsible for getting their game unplugged." Tadeusz replied.

"You, Turbo and your friend Chkalov-" Tamora started.

"-He's not our friend." The reply came from both Outcasts, echoing Turbo's sentiments from the previous night, but the General was the one who continued, "We've been wary of Chkalov from the beginning. From the moment I recruited him he's had his own agenda, I'm afraid I wasn't able to keep him from going into your game my dear-"

"-I don't need Daddy looking after me." Tamora protested which only made him smile.

"Well, I'm glad you're calling me 'Daddy' now, but actually that's exactly why I told him to stay out of your game. I knew you'd catch him eventually." The General said, while Tamora glared at him, "But as I was saying, I wasn't able to keep him away from Hero's Duty. I don't know why he insisted, but as you can imagine we're suspicious."

"What's the worst he could possibly do?" Vanellope asked, making attention turn to her "I mean, if you guys are leaving, and he hasn't done anything already-"

"-Like the General said, Chkalov's got his own agenda," Turbo told her, "So what's the worst he could possibly do Blondie?" He said turning to Tamora.

She was stuck on an answer, the worst Chkalov could do, to her knowledge, would be unleash a Cybug hoard into the station. If that was his plan he would have done it by now, so what else could he be up to? She was drawing a blank and that scared her a little bit. "I would still trust him over the two of you any day of the week." She declared.

"Yer only saying that because he's programmed you to trust him." Turbo argued, "The time may come when you eat those words, Sergeant."

"Enough!" Tamora yelled, starting to become confused about the whole situation. Confused, but mostly angry.

Things had been going so well, Hero's Duty was a hit with the Players, she had friends inside and outside the game, and of course she had Felix, but since Turbo had reappeared everything was just chaos. Tamora had no idea who she could trust, if she should trust anyone and that made her angry at herself more than anything.

"Tammy, are you okay?" Felix asked, Tamora blinked, realizing everyone was staring at her. She must have gone really quite for a long time for everyone to be looking at her now.

"I'm fine," she dismissed, Turbo had crept closer to the General, and both of the were a step or two further away from her. Tofferita too had approached the tall man and he leaned down to pick her up and put her on his shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"If he's leaving I wanna see him off." Toffee said.

Ralph glanced between the little racer, the two Outcasts, and Tamora. "Is that really a good idea?" the Wrecker asked, glaring specifically at Turbo, who stuck his tongue out at him.

"She will be perfectly safe in my company, I swear it." The General replied nodding to Ralph and Vanellope. "Toffee will be back in Sugar Rush before sunrise." He had been cooperative for the most part, as far as they could tell, he had been honest. Tofferita was able to confirm his story, and relate that she had been the one in the code room so they knew nothing had been tampered with...

But Tamora couldn't let go of a horrible feeling like something was about to go horribly wrong.

"I still don't trust you." She said crossing her arms, "And I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I will give you this _one_ chance. If she isn't back..." Tamora didn't know how to finish her sentence. She wanted the General to be untrustworthy, for her insecurities and doubts about him to be true, but at the same time for Toffee's sake, she wanted to be wrong.

"Don't worry, I will be!" Toffee said dipping her hat, she patted Tadeusz's head "He'll only be back to visit me, and you'll never see _him_ again." She pointed her thumb to Turbo who remained on the opposite side of the General.

"Nope, never." Turbo agreed and looked at Vanellope, "So that means this will be the last chance I ever have to say this...I'm sorry."

Everyone's jaw dropped a little, except for the General's. His lips curved up a bit in what could almost be called a proud smile, but no one was really looking at him. "What did you say?" Ralph demanded.

Turbo stepped back from him, glitching temporarily into his King Candy form and back ins a swirl of red pixels before answering. "You heard me, and you can debate back and forth all you like about whether I meant it or not, but I said it and I'm not saying it again." the King Candy disguise appeared again, "And you can argue about if I mean thith or not too, but I didn't mean for any of thith to happen and I'm thorry-Aw, dAnm, l0ok5 like I _did_ say it again." He glitched back into his normal form.

The General backed him up on this, "Things got out of hand here, it shouldn't have happened, but there's really no point in burdening ourselves by asking what if." He gave Turbo a glance, which Tamora sensed had some deeper meaning behind it, but the General continued, "What happened is in the past and now our futures are heading in new directions, like Turbo said, you can decide if he means that apology for yourself later, but if I may say, getting a fake apology from him is more than anyone else has ever gotten."

"Oh, shut up," Turbo said, turning on his heels and sticking his hands in his pocket, gripping some mystery item inside, "Couldn't you just leave it as 'things got outta hand' and not-"

"-No, no, I couldn't. Vanellope really should be honored, you haven't even apologized to me for-"

"-Oh get over it, that was eighteen years ago."

"Still not an apology." Tadeusz waved his hand between Turbo and Vanellope, "And like I said, more than anyone else has gotten, but I digress. If we are going to be gone and Toffee be back before morning we really should be on our way."

The group started to disperse, Turbo, Tofferita and the General making their way toward the exit out of Sugar Rush while the others stood behind still conflicted about what had just happened. They were silent for a long time before Felix finally spoke up, "Okay, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Turbo apologizing at all is a good sign-"

"-But we know he's a liar." Ralph argued.

Vanellope shook her head, taking neither side of the argument, "It doesn't really matter, he's leaving and we'll never see him again so who cares if he apologized or meant it or whatever." She said sounding very unsure about her own position on it and whether or not if she accepted the apology.

Tamora stepped forward, "I agree with Vanellope, it doesn't matter anymore, so we should just go home and sleep on it. If we decide we actually care about this enough to discuss it again, we should all have a little time to think it over. Personally I don't foresee myself giving a raccoon's behind about this ever again, but I'm not the one the apology was for so my opinion, and your opinions," Tamora gestured to Ralph and Felix, "don't matter in the long run so let Vanellope figure out how she feels about it."

She started walking toward the exit herself, stopping at Felix's side and putting a hand on her husband's shoulder. "I'm going back to Hero's Duty to talk to the men, and make sure Chkalov leaves without doing any damage. Do you want to come over, or shall I meet you in your game after it's all over?" Tamora asked.

"Hmm, my game is a bit more relaxing." Felix said, "And I think you could really use a nice rest, you have been pretty tense lately."

"Have I?" she questioned, Tamora hadn't noticed herself being any tenser than usual, but then again, she _wouldn't_ notice, would she?

Felix gave her a sheepish smile, and blushed almost as if afraid he'd offended her somehow. He was very flustered while he replied, "W-well, m-maybe not _pretty_ tense, but noticeable, and now that your f- I mean General Ca-" She cut him off by leaning down and kissing him. She loved how easy it was to get Felix so nervous.

"I think you're right." Tamora said when she pulled away, "I'll just get everything in my game worked out and I'll be in yours soon enough. The Arcade isn't opening tomorrow so it's not like we have a deadline or anything. Ralph, Vanellope, what are your plans?"

Ralph looked at Vanellope who was looking at her feet. "Well, I could go back to Fix-It Felix Jr and hang out with the new guys, but Vanellope, if you want me to stay..."

Vanellope shook her head, "Naw, I gotta game to run and stuff to think about so I better have a little me time. We got a whole three days to hang out coming up so don't worry Ralphie, everything's gonna be fine!" She tried to smile but they all knew she was still very confused and conflicted about what had happened that night.

They all finally made up their minds, Vanellope walked them to the exit. The train out of Sugar Rush had already departed with the trio from before already on it, so they had several minutes to hang out still before it returned. They spent it talking about their plans for the next couple of days. They joked about making a kart for Felix and teaching him how to race, made fun of how Ralph would probably crash within two minutes. Tamora wanted to take another look at Half-Light Nexus, she hadn't been in a very good mood the night they had gone looking for Tofferita and she felt like she had made a bad impression on the natives of the game.

The train finally arrived and everyone except Vanellope got on. The conversation continued, with Ralph inviting Felix to go to Tapper's with him for an hour before they went back to their own game. Tamora scolded them both teasingly not to flirt with any strange women at the bar. The train pulled into game central station and the went their separate ways, Tamora to Hero's Duty, Ralph and Felix to Tapper's. Before entering the game, Tamora glanced around the station.

She regretted not asking where exactly Tadeusz was taking Tofferita to see him off at. She regretted agreeing to to let her go with the two Outcasts, but that was different. Tamora finally turned around and entered her game. It was too late to change her mind about the deal, all she could do now was hope she was wrong about the General.

Still, while she sat on yet another train, there was a tiny part of her that hoped she was right.

Her feeling like something was about to happen hadn't gone away yet. In fact, as Tamora got closer and closer to her own world, her heart started beating faster, like it was warning her that danger was just around the corner. To her relief, when the train pulled in, the men were all standing at the exit, ready to head out for the night. There were no stray Cybugs in the air, and nothing seemed to be out of place, except for one thing.

"Where's lieutenant Chkalov?"the Sergeant asked before her men all boarded.

Markowski turned around, she hoped to ask who Chkalov was, since the General had claimed that they were all leaving tonight. Tamora hadn't told the men about the fact that Chkalov didn't belong in the game, the less who knew about that, the easier it would be just to wait and see what he was up to. Markowski pointed to the tower. "He went into the lab, said there was something he wanted to see. Is something on your mind Sergeant?"

Her face had fallen a bit when Markowski answered her, and Tamora's heart skipped a beat, almost sure that this was proof that Tadeusz had been lying. But she remained calm, "Nothing for you to worry about, soldier I just counted heads and found one missing." She replied, "I'm going to Felix's in a little bit. Arcade doesn't open tomorrow but I still want you all to report back here by 0900, is that understood?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am." They all answered, Tamora noticed several boxes packed up but didn't think much about them as she hurried to headquarters.

At least, Tamora made it look like that was where she was going, just dropping something off or picking something up as far as the men should be concerned. She placed her larger weapons down, doubting she would need them for the remainder of the night. Tamora glanced up at the tower and her fingers brushed against her hand pistol. This she left at her side, even as she left the rest of the weapons at the headquarters the Sergeant made her way to the tower.

_"We've been wary of Chkalov from the beginning..."_

Tamora checked her tracker, Chkalov was on the top level of the tower, where the Medal of Heroes was kept, but more importantly, where the main Cybug nest was.

_"What's the worst he could do?"_

Blood pumped in her ears as she climbed stair case after stair case. Tamora's equipment beeped, undoubtedly Chkalov knew she was coming by now. Best pretend, like she had been for the last couple of days, that she didn't know anything was wrong. Surely, if Tadeusz's claims that the Outcasts were leaving, Chkalov should have gone by now. He would need his code box, which was in the chapel, so what was he doing all the way up there?

_"The time may come when you eat those words, sergeant."_

It was several long minutes before Tamora stood with only a large steel doors between her and the Lieutenant that had infiltrated her game. She stood straighter put on a friendly face and pressed a button on the wall which let the doors open with a loud metallic screech. Since he would know she was here anyway, she might as well just go on as usual, Tamora reminded herself. Don't act like you know something's up...

It was hard to contain her surprise when she saw the large room, filled of course with Cybug eggs, but toward the window, Chkalov stood over a table he must have set up himself, examining one of them carefully with a piece of tech that was obviously not native to this game. The technology he was using didn't bother her so much as the fact that he had a Cybug egg in his hands, more on the table in front of him, and she didn't know why.

"What are you doing?" She demanded, almost dropping the rouse of being unsuspecting as she stormed across the room.

Chkalov turned to her with a friendly smile, that same smile he always had to her memory, one that always made him seem trustworthy, and charming. It was almost painfully obvious that he didn't belong in Hero's Duty, now that Tamora was aware of it. Chkalov's facial coding was different than theirs, his eyes a different style and that yellow-green color whereas the rest of the characters had natural eye colors, and his blond hair, while cropped short to match Military standards, wasn't buzz cut like the rest of the men in her troop.

"Why Sergeant, what a pleasant surprise." he started, but Tamora slammed her hand angrily on the table.

"Cut the Bullroar, _what are you doing_? These are Cybug eggs, not toys!" She hissed, her anger easily mistaken for her usual hatred for the Cybugs, a perfect disguise for her anger at Chkalov for even being here now. There was a sound, like an animal moving somewhere in the darkness that made her twirl around searching for the source. The Cybug queen? No, even these monsters needed rest, the queen would be asleep at this time of night.

"I know that sergeant." Chkalov replied, his voice not even faltering. Tamora sensed his hand come up and felt him wrap an arm around her shoulders, as if trying to be reassuring. Not worried at all about the sound she had just heard, "I've just been curious, lately, that perhaps we could...use the Cybugs somehow, you know after the arcade closes, I mean."

Tamora didn't like where Chkalov's arm was and pulled away in annoyance, "_Use_ them? How?" She asked turning to face him.

"How _can't_ we, I think is a better question." he answered, "I was just thinking of what we could learn from studying the Cybugs, what we could extract from them-"

"-studying them isn't our job. Eliminating them is!" Tamora spat, something snapped in her and she just couldn't pretend anymore. "Of course I wouldn't expect a fraud like you to really understand that, would you?"

Chkalov paused at that and was silent for several seconds, enough for Tamora to hear that sound again, but before she could turn to look again Chkalov started to laugh, drawing her attention once more. It wasn't a friendly laugh, not like the General's earlier, this was dark, amused, and sent a shiver through her. "So, you figured me out, have you? Or _have_ you?"

Tamora hand no idea what he meant and took a step back from Chkalov, only to have him take another step toward her. "No...no, I don't think you've got me figured out at all." He said. Tamora stopped, if she backed any further she would step into the Cybug nest and onto one of the eggs. Chkalov lifted a hand to her face, "You looks so frightened, Tammy...like a little mouse. You don't have to be afraid, not yet. You and I can still be... _friends_."

He kept advancing on her. The sound of movement and a low moaning noise made Tamora glance back. She definitely saw _something_ sneaking around in the darkness. Her heart was pounding harder than ever. "What do you mean by-"

She was cut off when Chkalov grabbed her by the chin and forced her face upward, slamming his lips down painfully against hers. The sergeant's heart stopped for a moment while he pulled her closer to him, shoving his tongue between her teeth while her jaw dropped in shock and reaching down to her core. Tamora had been suspecting for a while that perhaps Chkalov had something more on his mind that camaraderie, but she'd always thought him to be a decent man who would respect her status as a married woman.

In that instant of realizing Chkalov was not, Tamora's feeling broke loose from her in one terrible swoop. Rage, violation and even fear burst out of her, and Tamora swung her fist at Chkalov's face, their proximity and her strength knocked Chkalov back several steps while she gasped for air and put a hand over her lips which felt bruised. "What the hell are you thinking!?" She roared.

Something ran passed her from the blackness, Tamora only caught a slight glimpse of it as it passed the window. The pale light from outside illuminated a large slick creature that ran on all fours, but Tamora couldn't see much more than that before it vanished into the shadows behind Chkalov. Everything except the terror Tamora was feeling suddenly froze. Her eyes locked onto the spot where the thing had vanished and she grabbed her hand pistol, aiming where she had last seen it. Realizing that it couldn't hide any longer, the creature crept back into view.

It had a man's face, but beastly features, narrow intelligent eyes and a crooked nose. It's mouth was large, spreading across it's face, fixed in a permanent ear to ear grin by threads that sewed the creature's lips together, they parted only as far as the threads would allow to expel a menacing moan. Those eyes made her heart stop again, she knew them, the color at least, they were the same unnatural yellow-green color as Chkalov's. That was the limit of their similarities though, and the end of where this creature looked human.

Hair grew all around it's head, like a black mane, and dark fur coated it's quadrupedal body. Thick, strong legs ended with large sharp claws, yellow-green, like it's eyes, surging with venom. At it's shoulders and hind quarters, was another set of eyes, though these appeared to be decoration only. And a set of leathery bat wings rested on it's back, large enough to be intimidating, but didn't look flight-worthy. But the most terrifying thing of all, was it's tail. At it's rear, the fur thinned away, and flesh stretched out into hard armor. The tail reach back, the same length as it's body, and curled up over it, poised as if to strike, and pointed. A scorpion's tail.

"W-what is that thing?" Tamora was used to Cybugs, mindless monsters that were easy to kill. This creature, however, she had no idea, and the fear that rose in her met it's peak as she stared at it's approaching form. Her weapon wavered in her hands as freakishly intelligent eyes stared back at her.

"I am the Manticore." The voice came from Chkalov, but Tamora's gaze never left the creature, their eyes were locked, and she knew, with it's mouth sewn shut it could not answer her. This monster, the Manticore, was somehow speaking _through_ Chkalov, using him as a mouth piece and voice.

She forced herself to look away, staring now at Chkalov. "Wh-what?"

Chkalov's mouth opened, but Tamora understood now, even before he explained, that it was not Chkalov who was speaking, and maybe it never was. "Days after our game was plugged in, the Programmers thought they could contain me by recalling the game. I needed one host to speak for me, but the others were a necessary sacrifice, to make everyone believe that the Manticore Virus was no more."

The Manticore slid it's body underneath Chkalov's arm, it stood almost to his chest so Tamora thought it might knock him over, but the two were in perfect sync. Two bodies, one mind. She started backing away again, no longer caring about the Cybug nest and keeping her gun on them shifting her aim between the two. Chkalov in the meantime was removing the gloves from his armor, his bare hands revealed that horrible yellow-green poison underneath his finger nails.

"Tamora Jean Calhoun..." The Manticore said through Chkalov's lips, "Such a shame you've already chosen your side. We could have made such wonderful allies. Perhaps it is for the better. You'll make a perfectly fine puppet as well..."

Chkalov lifted a hand as if to strike her, "Don't even think about it!" She yelled, Tamora lifted her hand pistol higher, keeping it pointed directly at Chkalov.

This was a mistake. The Manticore struck with it's tail, lighting fast impossible to dodge, the appendage hit her with enough force to make make her drop the weapon. It had meant to disarm her, but the tail rose again, and Tamora knew, if it stuck again, no amount of armor would protect her from the venom.

"If you must know, Sergeant," Chkalov continued needlessly, "I had hoped that I could use the Cybug's to spread my virus, but my studies have deemed them useless to me."

Tamora ran back, only just missing getting hit by another swipe of the Manticore's tail, the Cybug eggs around her started to glow, getting ready to hatch. The Manticore went after her, smashing eggs as it came. Tamora was in the wrong place, being backed into the wall, while the doors were pushed further and further from her.

But they had never closed after her when she had entered, and Tamora had not been the only soldier who had gone up the tower after Chkalov. A blast from one of the barrel of a high-level weapon caused the Manticore to jump back, "Sergeant, run!"

"Markowski!" Tamora was surprised, but didn't hesitate. Markowski fired another shot into the room after she had passed his shoulder, a return shot was fired from Chkalov. Down the hall a little ways, Tamora saw the rest of the troop, waving for her and Markowski to join them. Tamora ran with Markowski just behind her when she heard him cry out, she glanced behind to see him fall.

The Manticore was right on top of him, pinning the man down with it's front paws, but looking directly at her while it's tail waved over it's head. It wanted her to watch, and she couldn't take her eyes away. "Sarge! Go!" Markowski shouted. Those were the last works he said before the Manticore's tail struck his back, the appendage cleaved right though his armor, into his skin pumping poison into the soldier's body.

But not killing him.

Before Tamora turned away she saw Markowski's eyes, wide with horror, glaze over and turn that wretched yellow-green. Tamora caught up with the other men, although by now she was terrified beyond reason and just wanted to find somewhere to curl up and cry, she kept her calm and ordered the men to retreat, they ran back down the tower, knowing things over as they passed trying to keep some distance between them and the monster and it's puppets.

They reached the lab entrance, and the first person appeared behind them, before they could stop it, the robot went barreling into the lab, like a reckless gamer heading into the Cybug horde unprepared. Buying them more time to get out. Tamora gave it silent thanks and sealed the doors shut with a safety lock. She didn't know how long that would hold the creature, but they were running again in no time.

Tamora didn't remember making it to the train, she was breathing so hard and trying not to scream and rip her hair out they where half way to the station before she realized she was sitting down, and someone was trying to talk to her.

"Sergeant? Sergeant? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" She lied, the image of Markowski's face urging her to go before being infected with that- that _thing_ burned behind her eye lids, every time she blinked she saw him. "What were you guys doing in the tower, I thought you'd left?" She asked, trying to divert her thoughts.

"We figured Chkalov was up to no good when he said he was going up to the tower. We've been waiting for you to give some kind of termination order, but when he said he was going up, we knew we had to keep an eye on 'im." Tamora blinked a couple of times before it really dawned on her.

The men had known. They had known Chkalov wasn't one of them, even though she hadn't said anything, they were waiting for her to say something first. Tamora knew what she needed to do now. Damn, if only she had listened to her instincts in the first place. If she had, she probably could have taken out Chkalov and that virus, Markowski would be with them, and they would still have Hero's Duty.

"We have to blow the exit." She said as the trolly neared the light of game central station. "We can't let that thing get out." The men all gave solemn nods. Hero's Duty was a dark and dangerous world, but it was also their home, they would miss it regardless, when Litwak returned in a few days the game would be discovered without it's cast and be unplugged. Markoski with it.

Tamora bit her lip. She hated to leave a man behind, but Markowski had to have known that he was doomed the moment the Manticore struck him.

The corps filed of the train, as the leader, Tamora took it as her responsibility to do it and took out a timed bomb as they left the boarding station, "Tell everyone to keep back." She warned.

She set the bomb and ran out into the station, staring at the gaping entrance. People gathered around, whispering about what was going on, no one understood, and they wouldn't until the corps explained. Tamora could almost hear the clicking of the times, and mouthed each number as the counter went down, down, down.

"Seven...six...five... four... three...two..." Tamora looked beyond the station opening, into the tunnel, far into the distance was a world she would never see again. "One..."

The blast caused many of the gathered to scream and jump back. The Surge protector appeared, demanding to know what was happening. Kohut took on the job of explaining while Tamora gazed at the rubble and trembled. The night had taken it's toll on her, escorting Turbo into Sugar Rush seemed like a life time ago, now that she knew her father was running around Game Central Station, and then Chkalov and the Manticore Virus...Had Tadeusz known about it?

_"From the moment I recruited him he's had his own agenda."_

Tamora buried her face in one palm, she didn't want to think about it. One of the on lookers started to step closer to her, probably to console her about the loss of her game. All she wanted was to go get to Felix, presumably still in Tapper's and retire to the safety of his home. She felt like crying, and the only place she felt was safe to cry in was the privacy of the room she shared with her husband, and his comfort was all she needed.

It was done. Over.

But the stranger hadn't come to ease her mind. Instead arms slid under hers, pulling her into an armlock, "Surely, you did not think it would be that easy Sergeant?" A harsh voice demanded.

Tamora gasped, "Chkalov!" She struggled against her captor.

"I am the Manticore." Came the response, and the grip tightened. Several other people were stepping out from the crowd, all of them sharing a single trait that set them apart from the others. Those damn eyes. There were too many of them for her to count while she was preoccupied trying to fight off the one that held her, and the other puppets were attacking everyone else. Tamora finally managed to land a blow to the attacker's abdomen with her elbow, that allowed her to shake free enough to use the man's body weight against him, tossing him to the floor.

She barely had time to celebrate this small victory when yet another host to the virus approached her. "I am the Maniticore and I have been collecting hosts for ten years." This voice came from a little girl on the side lines.

"I am the Manticore." Said yet a third, picking up right were the child had left off, "My brothers were foolish and tried to bring down their arcades in one swift swoop."

Tamora fought two off, but saw them attacking the crowds, infecting more and more, tearing flesh with yellow-green fingernails to spread the virus."I am the Manticore, my patience has been rewarded, for the arcade will not open when the sun rises. Nor will it ever once I am through."

She was surrounded, but a man with normal eyes jumped into the fight beside her, wielding a long staff decorated with a cross. It hardly seemed like the ideal weapon, but the infected people drew away from it. "Get back!" The robed man yelled.

The two of them knocked several of the hosts unconscious, but more took their place. Some of the infected people appeared holding projectile weapons which shot darts that contained yet another method of spreading the virus. Tamora's temporary fighting companion fell this way, and his cross clattered to the floor. Hosts rushed away from it. Intrigued and aware that they needed every resource they could get, Tamora snatched up the cross and fended people away with it.

"I am the Manticore." The chant rose across the crowds as people were panicking and feeling, trying to find some place that the virus could not reach, but it seemed to have a spot everywhere. "I am the Manticore."

Several of the puppets were approaching the entrance to Hero's Duty, and beginning to clear away the rubble so that the true virus could escape. One host, a woman stepped toward Tamora, her hands raised to reveal her poison filled fingernails. Tamora had no where to run, as the virus closed in."I am the Manti-"

The virus was cut off mid sentence by a large shape leaping between them and knowing it back. At least the creature's wing span was large. Two sets of wings sprouted from a man's back, brown fingers connected by a thin fleshy membrane. Tamora wanted to thank her rescuer, but he turned and her words died in her throat.

It was the General, and those wings were not all about him that had changed. His face bore black tattoos reminiscent of a cheetah, and his fingers were longer, bearing claws that ripped through his gloves, at least on one side, the other was made of metal. His eyes had changed as well, not that damn virus color, actually the same color they had always been, but the pupils were elongated and laying like horizontal lines, bringing to mind a goat with a piercing stare. The changes gave him a wild dangerous appearance. He opened his mouth, revealing sharp filed points.

"Well don't just stand there gawking, Tammy!" He shouted over the screams of people across the arcade, "Follow me!"

With no choice, and others already following the order, Tamora punched out three more puppets in her way and knocked others back with the cross. Tadeusz led those who had heard him to a hole in the wall, Tamora had walked passed this hole several times but never thought much of it until the people started ducking into it to escape the chaos out here. The General in his new form stood at the entrance, guarding it against anyone with the telltale signs of the virus infection.

"What are you doing here?" Tamora demanded.

"Trying to save as many people as I can, now either get in the tunnel or I'm throwing you in." He replied, she clutched the cross angrily.

"And how did you know something was happening up here?" She asked suspiciously.

"Oh, Tamora if I had any idea this was going on, don't you think I'd approach this with a little more tact? I just noticed Chkalov hadn't come back, went to find him and came up to _this_." He shot back, throwing his arm out to show the damage being done."We can work out our father-daughter issues later, but not is not a good time!"

She was about to snap at him again when another voice caught her attention, "Tammy!" She was so relieved to hear Felix's voice. "Oh, thank goodness you're okay!"

"Felix!" She picked him up and kissed him with relief.

"What's going on out here?" Ralph asked, smacking aside an animal character that leaped toward them.

"Virus," Tadeusz explained vaguely, "_Now get in the stupid tunnel_!"

Tamora didn't argue with him this time, Ralph was too big to fit in the hole, and Tadeusz agreed to let him stay behind to help him guard the entrance. More people were flooding toward the hole, they checked each person's eyes before letting them pass. Tamora rushed down the blackness of the tunnel blindly with Felix at her side until she was suddenly grabbed by the shoulders. Had a puppet slipped past?

"Oi, Dame, that's Jeremiah's Ghros!" The man behind her said almost accusingly, turning her around and trying to take the staff from her. Tamora's vision was weaker in the dark, but adjusting quickly, thankfully this stranger had brown eyes. Behind him another man was running down the hall, this one with the yellow-green eyes and his hand raised to slash at the one in front of him.

Before Tamora could shout for him to look out, he wrestled the cross out of her hand and whirled around, the puppet backed off at the sight of the cross and turned around to escape the tunnel. The man turned back around when the host was out of sight, "Oi, how'ju get this? Where's Jeremiah?"

She could only assume that Jeremiah was the robed man from before, "He was infected." Tamora told him, "What is that thing, how is it warding them off?"

The man gripped the staff, "The Golden Ghros, of Father Shannon..." His accent was thick, so she assumed the word he was trying to use was 'cross', "In our game it wards off evil, mayhaps it does the same out 'ere." He mused. Tamora thought that was as good of an answer as any, and snatched the cross back from him. "Hey!" He shouted.

"Tammy!" Felix called after her.

"Keep going, I'll be right back!" She yelled over her shoulder. Ralph and the General were still fighting, as well as a couple other characters too large to fit through the tunnel when, she reached the entrance. Whatever had caused Tadeusz's transformation had worn off, and now he was fighting the virus off with just his bare hands. For the love- and he'd told _her_ to get in the tunnel!

"Ralph!" She called, the wrecker turned his head slightly to acknowledge her, but didn't stop fighting, "Can you wreck the wall so you can get through without collapsing the tunnel?" She asked.

"I do it all the time!" He answered throwing a character into several others.  
"Do it!" Tamora ordered, glancing at the General she added "And _you_, get in the tunnel!"

He tried to argue with her "Someone needs to guard the entrance..."

Tamora lifted the cross, "No we don't, Ralph _now_!"

The wrecker turned around and used his fists to widen the hole in the wall, his strength and speed were incredible and soon enough there was an opening that the larger avatars could fit through, "Everyone in the tunnel!" Tamora shouted and waved her arms to catch their attention, several of them were worn out from fighting and happily obliged. Some didn't make it, getting infected the moment they turned around.

Soon everyone was filing in after Ralph. Tadeusz remained at her side, "What's to stop them from-" He started to ask, but Tamora Slammed the Golden Cross into the ground, inside the walls of the tunnel so that the Manticore's puppets could not go around it.

"It's not a permanent solution, but that should at least keep them back, now_ let's move_!" Tamora said.

The General stood back a moment or two staring at the Golden cross with awe and taking note of the fact that the hosts would not dare get too close to it. "How fascinating." He mumbled as he turned away and ran at her side down the tunnel, "This passage leads directly to the Underground, like a station beneath the station, there are other entrances but most of them are too small and lead to a labyrinth, Chkalov wouldn't use any of them unless he's prepared to spend hours trying to get to the right place."

"Won't we be trapped there?" Tamora asked.

"The Underground has a train that leads to the electric systems of the arcade, anyone not fit can escape to Litwak's computer on it." He explained.

"Not fit for what?" She already knew the answer, the though was crossing her own mind already, but she needed to hear it from him.

"Not fit for war." Like father like daughter. Despite her reservations, Tamora had to admit the General was at least good to have on her side right now.

Light appeared ahead of them, not the brightness of game central station, but enough to see by. People were gathered in groups of whoever they knew or just who was nearby, many of them whimpering and crying about what was happening, confused and scared. Once again the General took command of the situation, living up to his rank, "Listen up people! We've got the Virus held back at the entrance, but it may not stay that way for long!" He shouted, his bellowing voice carrying over the crowds and silencing everyone. He pointed to the train, "All civilians please get on the train, there's not enough room for everyone, but we will buy you all the time needed for it to make as many trips as it takes. Those of you with combat training or high medical stats please join me-"

"-_Us_" Tamora corrected.

"-Please join us. The arcade will be closed for construction, that means we have a minimum of three days to stop that virus or die trying." He said, "The first thing we're going to want to do is gather anyone out there that isn't infected. Chkalov thinks he's beaten us and we're down here licking our wounds. We can rest up, but as soon as things quiet down we need to form a task force to get any survivors down here."

"Oo, put you in charge?" Someone called out, the man from the tunnel that had identified the cross.

"No one." The General replied in a friendly manner, "But if you, _any_ of you, have a better plan I''d like to hear it."

The man was silent a moment, "Ahm Faolan of _Heathen Ghros_, sir. An meh friend Jeremiah was infected, should we gonsider finding a cure?"

The General nodded, he quietly said, "I suppose there's no point to hiding my identity anymore." Then added louder, "I am General Tadeusz Calhoun, formerly of Call of Heroes. And yes, finding a way to free those we have lost is something we can do later, but first we should get as many people out as possible, we are going to need all the help we can get."

"Ah volunteer! Mah friends are out there!" Faolan said, Tamora was sort of expecting everyone to be too terrified to want to do anything except fight each other to get on the train, but the sentiments were shared among the characters of the arcade. Everyone who could fight was willing to fight for their friends and family, and even some of the non fighters were volunteering to join rescue parties to collect anyone who wasn't infected.

Nothing like a crisis to bring people together.

Tadeusz raised his hands to silence the crowd, "Yes, yes, we all have someone we want to protect. Now isn't the time, rest up, clear your heads, anyone not joining the effort get in line for the train. In an hour we'll head back up and begin searching."

There were mummers of agreement went through the crowd, a few protests from warriors who were already pumped and ready to go, but soon enough it got eerily quiet, like the calm before a storm. Ralph and Felix approached Tamora, both of them wanting to go to the surface. Tadeusz went over to one of many cracks in the walls and came back with a case filled with cases of blue-green liquid, maps, charts, hand held weapons. He gathered them and slipped several of the vials into his pockets and armed himself with the weapons. The maps, each detailing various games, he put out for the teams to take when the time was right. He must have drawn them himself, likely having been at it for years.

The General's eyes were furrowed with worry, and Tamora knew that he was including himself when he mentioned that they all had someone they wanted to protect. "Where's Toffee?" She asked.

Tadeusz barely gave her a glance, "When Chkalov didn't report down here I went up to see what he was doing. As soon as I heard the word 'Virus' I sent her back to Sugar Rush to warn everyone to get out and come here."

She could tell he was regretting this decision, and she worried about Vanellope still in Sugar Rush unaware. And the Racers weren't prepared for such things, Sugar Rush was a game that was easy target for monsters like Cybugs and Viruses, almost completely defenseless.

Ralph glanced at the General, his face too scrunched up with unspeakable worry. He opened his mouth, Tamora thought to voice his concern about Vanellope and her world, but instead another question came out of his mouth. "Where's Turbo?" Tadeusz looked up in surprise, and glanced through the crowd.

The racer, who had come down here with him, was no where to be seen.

**Author's end note: **I'm aware that the whole 'virus take over' thing is probably one of, if not the most over used plots in WiR fanfiction, but I'm hoping at least that I'm doing it in a way that is different and exciting for you readers. Also I totally didn't realize how many characters in this story have names that start with 'T' until I was working on this chapter. One last announcement, if you go to my profile I have a now link to my art page on my tumblr blog which has picture, concept and character art for this story, if you're interested please take a look. I will be adding more so if you have a tumblr you can follow, if not, check in every once in a while to see if I have anything new. Thank you for reading, I'll try to be back again with a new chapter soon!


	12. Internal Sin

**Author's Note: ** Thanks for coming back, I'm glad you all got a good scare out of last chapter! As my portrayal of Turbo has been questioned once I'm gonna put this as a special note: The way I am writing him is for the purposes of this fanfiction _only_, I am not trying to excuse his actions, merely explain them in a way that suits the needs of _my_ story and because it is important to the plot.

**Second note: **The condition Turbo suffers from is based loosely on real psychological disorders called Pseudologia Fantastica (pathological lying), and false memory syndrome, which again, is for this story only.**  
Waning: **Multiple POVs, mostly Turbo's, switching perspectives may be a little confusing, I apologize in advance if the transitions are a little rocky, language, hints at Vanillatastic, title drop.

**Disclaimer: **All character belonging to Disney Belong to Disney. All characters that are mine belong to me. Lauahi, **SnappleT's **character is briefly returning from chapter five with **SnappleT's** permission, again if you wish to know more about Lauahi please read her creator's story _Growth and Change. _Faolan, once again, belongs to my sister

Break with the Past

In Turbo's experience, there was a difference between being selfish and being heartless. Since they were both negative traits, not many people realized how very different the two things were. Everyone was selfish at heart, even the selfless man got the self-satisfaction of know _he_ had helped someone when no one else would. A heartless man, however, never even gave his actions enough thought to even realize he was being selfish.

Or maybe that was just Turbo's paranoid assumption about why Felix was so kind to him, even after all he'd done.

When the General left to go see what was taking Chkalov so long to rendezvous, Tofferita Chococream was going around introducing herself and talking to some of the Outcasts. Turbo left her to that, taking his own time to visit one of their more recent members. Honestly, Turbo didn't think Ralph, or even Felix really understood what a trauma it was to have your game unplugged. It was bad enough just in theory, but to actually experience it, and be _responsible_ for it...

The emotional damage was enough to drive someone to the edge of madness.

The boy hadn't said a word since the General had brought him down here, Turbo wasn't even sure of his name, but the boy just stared at one of the walls, envisioning the destruction of his game, imagining how what could have been done differently to stop it, or how he could have saved the other people in it.

The boy never said this was what he was thinking, but Turbo knew. That was exactly what he had done when Turbotime was unplugged. Everything he'd ever known was gone, his friends, his home, even his good name. All of it was gone and it was his fault, Turbo sat here alone in the dark trying to make sense of it all. To make matters worse, in his rush to leave Turbotime, he hadn't taken his code box out properly resulting in damage to his code.

What was he supposed to do? What could he have done? Why hadn't the others come with him? Could he have convinced them to? Questions led to imagining, imagining led to regret and confusion. Was there any version of his story where things could have ended better? Luckily for this boy, he'd been found wandering aimlessly and led here where he could get support and comfort. By the time the General found Turbo, he was so lost in his imaginings that he had no idea which of his fantasies was the truth. It had taken the General weeks to coax him into understanding that the other racers, whom Turbo truly believed he was hiding with, did not exist.

Understanding that the same thing could end up happening to this kid, Turbo was trying to console him, reassure him that there was nothing that could be done about the loss of his world and sitting there would do nothing. It was a small gesture, but coming from Turbo it was pretty heartfelt.

The boy still hadn't budged when the General came back announcing some story about a virus in the arcade. The news was surprising to Turbo, it wasn't unheard of for an occasional virus to pop up, but usually the Surge Protectors kept them from causing too much trouble.

But the General sounded worried. "Toffee!" He called, the recolor bounded over to him, "Go back to Sugar Rush immediately, bring everyone you can down here. Quick, before it spreads any further!"

There was a moment when Turbo thought _why should I care_? There was an inner debate about whether he was being selfish or heartless, but instead of answering himself, Turbo left the boy he was trying to comfort and slipped passed the General to go after Tofferita. Tadeusz was heading over to grab some of his formula to activate his final boss transformation. Must be serious out there. "Hey, wait up!" He shouted to her.

Toffee paused in the tunnel while he caught up, "What?" She asked adjusting the strap on her backpack. Before they had left Sugar Rush they had stopped at her home to pick it up, something about a city in Half-Light she wanted to go to after they left, Turbo wasn't sure he was only half paying attention.

"I'm going with you to warn Sugar Rush." He answered.

Toffee blinked at him, "Why?"

There were several answers to that, summed up with the matter that deep down the racer wasn't heartless. He had been the king of Sugar Rush for fifteen years, he was worried about his people. Turbo was also feeling a terrible sense of obligation to make up for what he had done, a selfish sense of wanting to feel better about himself by doing the right thing, Turbo also needed to see Vanellope, his hand slipped into his pocket, to clutch a piece of data he'd been holding onto for a long time.

"Because I wanna go, that's why, now let's move!" He replied dismissively and hurried along without explaining.

One thing for sure, Turbo would rather be remembered as being selfish than as heartless.

When they reached the station all hell was breaking loose. Tofferita and Turbo stood in shocked silence as they tried to process what was going on. Everyone was attacking each other, and it was impossible to tell why or who was on what side. Turbo started glitching, the Cybug in his code was reacting to the violence, excited, wanting to join the chaos.

They didn't understand and they didn't have time to try, but because of his glitching Turbo snapped out of it first and grabbed Toffee's hand, dragging her along, "Sugar Rush, let's get going!"

"Right!" But Toffee was glancing over her shoulder, toward a different game. Turbo didn't dwell on it and instead led them through the mob, their short statures made it easy for them to slip passed unnoticed by most of the fighting avatars. Turbo saw the entrance to Sugar Rush just ahead, they reached the gate, but a very large fox-like creature stood between them and it.

The two racers didn't know this, but it was the member of Bad Anon who had noticed Felix dropping in to pick up Ralph, only a few days prior. The character blew smoke from between her teeth, er, at least Turbo thought it was female, he was focusing on how to get past it. Suddenly the creature opened it's mouth and shot fire at them.

Turbo pushed Tofferita out of the way and dodged the attack by jumping in the opposite direction. The fox now had two targets to chase rather than one. The white racer waved his arms trying to draw it's attention away from Toffee. From an outsider's perspective, he was acting heroically, putting himself in danger so that the girl could get away. Inwardly, he was still being selfish, because if they managed to get out of this Tofferita could tell everyone what he had done for her, and bit by bit his good name could start coming back.

In the end, Turbo would always be acting on his own selfish needs, even when that meant helping others. That's just how he was.

The creature turned to him, it's eyes were wide and yellow-green, just like Chkalov's. That didn't sit well with Turbo. "I am the Manticore," she said, staring down at Turbo directly and he had a feeling that it wasn't because he was trying to get her attention, "I have long looked forward to this Turbo..." She raised her hand (paw?) and lashed out at him with poison filled claws.

He didn't remember dodging, probably because the Cybug in his code had temporarily taken over, but Turbo was finding himself being pushed away from Sugar Rush while continuing to glitch uncontrollably. This wasn't good, more people were starting to notice them, Tofferita had no defense and Turbo's only one was the Cybug which he desperately hoped wouldn't come out. He took deep breath and ducked away from another swipe at him and dove to the ground.

Turbo rolled under her and the large creature stumbled forward. Toffee was at his side immediately tugging him up, "Run!" She said needlessly. The two continued their flight toward Sugar Rush, the creature behind them regain her footing and turn around to chase after them. The racers reached the train heading into Sugar Rush, with the fox on their tails, Turbo pushed Tofferita through first and dived after her. Toffee was already prepared with the emergency button to close the doors behind him.

They only just managed to shut before the fox reached them. She howled and banged on the door while the train started to move, slowly at first but gaining speed and soon enough the creature was running to try and catch the trolley. As the car sped up though, she started fading further and further back until vanishing from sight around a corner.

Turbo was still on the floor though so Toffee helped him up again. "What was that?" She asked.

In the safety and calm of the train, his glitching eased off to nothing. His mind was whirling tying to piece it together. Turbo was pretty good at deductive thinking, the General had said something about a virus, and they had been attacked by a creature that had the same eye color as Chkalov. Chkalov's game Manticore had been brought down by a virus, _"I am the Manticore."_

"That's what the General meant when he said there was a virus." Turbo mused aloud, but not actually filling Toffee in on his thoughts, "It must have been in the arcade all these years and no one ever even knew about it."

He could picture it now, when Chkalov's game was unplugged he'd made a big show about sealing the other people inside to keep the virus from escaping, when it was probably already out spreading itself. It was a very clever plot, Turbo had to admit, had everyone looking at an invented problem while not noticing the real one. Not unlike what he had done in Sugar Rush.

Turbo glanced at Toffee when this crossed his mind. She had been one of the Unlockable characters _he'd_ sealed away, but she didn't seem to be mad at him because of it. She was picking something up off the floor and turned to him with it held out, "I think this fell out of your pocket." She said. His heart almost stopped upon seeing what it was, a small bit of data, the very one he'd been carrying with him. Turbo snatched it out of her hand with a blunt 'Thanks' and put it back in his pocket, stroking it gently with his thumb. "What is that?" She asked, not bothered by his slightly rude behavior.

It would still be a while before they reached Sugar Rush, Turbo figured a little small talk to kill the time wouldn't hurt, but knew that if Toffee started asking too many questions that he could always just get quite. "It a bit of code." He replied.

"I can see that." Toffee told him, "But that wasn't a code box, what was it?"

The General had shown her how to hack codes, so of course she knew what a code box looked like. After he had gotten his back from Tadeusz, Turbo had stashed it away with some of the personal items he was taking with him out of the arcade. He stroked the bit of code in his pocket again, it was amazing how much information could be stored in such small things, even just this little piece. "It's a segment of memory code I removed from Sugar Rush fifteen years ago." He answered.

"Oh." Toffee sat back on one of the seats, swinging her legs back and forth.

Turbo expected her to ask him to elaborate, but she didn't, only glanced over her shoulder and out the window. He was a little glad she didn't ask, the less he had to say about it the better. Turbo gave the piece of code a gentle squeeze, he'd meant to give it to Vanellope that night in Burgertime, as insurance that she would believe him. Sure, that tale he'd told her about the twins and Double escaping with him wasn't exactly the truth, but what he'd said about Sugar Rush was.

And the proof was right here.

Three days worth of memories, right in the palm of his hand. So many people didn't understand the value of memories, with his code box damaged and his own memory messed up, Turbo understood it too well. Ralph and the others wanted to know the truth, well the truth was that Turbo couldn't trust his own memory to tell him that. He'd simply told Vanellope something he thought would win her sympathies so she'd let him get his code box, and if not for Taffyta's interruption he would have given this piece of code there in the restaurant.

Because of that value of memory, it had been a hard decision for him to give this up. Three days...Three days that he could prove really happened. No fantasies or lies, no false memories switching the story. He'd initially removed this piece of data from the code box containing the racer's memories with the intention of destroying it, but chose instead to keep it. It became one of his treasured possessions.

If nothing else in his life, the three days stored in this little piece of code, were real.

"What did she mean when she said that?"

"Hm?" Turbo snapped out of his thoughts and noticed Toffee looking at him expectantly.

"That Fox thing, she said she was waiting a long time for something." Tofferita added.

"How should I know, I never met that thing before." He answered.

"But she called you by name." She pointed out, and then mimicked the creature's voice, "_I am the Manticore, I have long looked_-"

"-I know what she said, I just don't know why. I don't know who that was." Turbo rolled his eyes, "Must have something to do with the virus. I know Chkalov always had it in for me. I guess the Manticore can transmit thoughts to the people it's infected or something."

"Like a hive mind?" Tofferita asked.

"A hive what?"

Toffee stood up, took off her backpack and pulled out a folded up poster with the image of some monster on it labeled _Ct'zarugk't_(how in the world was that pronounced?). Tofferita pointed to the creature, "These aliens are the bad guys in Half-Light Nexus, but they're not like Ralph or even Cybugs for that matter.." She explained, huh, that Half-Light place she was talking about must be a game then, "They attack in swarms but function as one, a single consciousness shared among hundreds upon thousands of bodies. What one of them knows, all of them know."

That made sense, Turbo supposed, "And you think this Manticore is the same?" He asked. "And each person it infects is just another set of eyes and ears?"

Toffee shrugged, folding her poster back up, "Maybe." She said.

Turbo groaned, talk about impossible odds, "Dam-er-Ding-Dongs! How're we supposta beat something like that?" He mused, after being away from Sugar Rush for a while he was getting back in the hang of swearing, but tried not to do it in front of her. "It could have hundreds of hosts already.

"In Half-Light, gamers beat the aliens by capturing the Nexus, their power source." Toffee told him, "That's what connects all the drones to the main mind. Capture the Nexus all the little ones die, and there's just the big one left. Kill the big one first they lose their leader and get confused, but the Nexus is what really stops them."

"What are you saying, that we should find out what's connecting these things?"

"That's how it works with the Nexus." Toffee elaborated, "But I think in the case of this virus, there isn't a secondary source. I think the Manticore itself is what's connecting them." She mused aloud.

Turbo hadn't been sure about her at first, but the General was right, Toffee was pretty perceptive. "Kill the Manticore and everyone it infected will return to normal..." He added.

Toffee looked him in the eyes, and nodded "I hope."

He gave a deep sigh "Oh, boy. I have a feeling that this is gonna require some _teamwork_." Turbo said a little annoyed, growling out the word like it left a bad taste in his mouth. His inner debate about whether or not he should care rose up again. He sort of felt like he owed Sugar Rush this warning, but why should he risk his life to fight for an arcade full of people that had turned their backs on him and cursed his name?

"That's what tends to happen in a crisis." Toffee replied, "Turbo, listen to me, that virus isn't just going to stop at Litwak's if we don't win. No one may trust you, but we're in this together now, so everyone is just going to need to break with the past, and learn to do so because it's gonna take all of us to stop it."

"'Break with the Past?" Turbo repeated.

Toffee waved her hand apologetically and explained, "It's a saying they have in Half-Light, it means to have a sudden change. Like it or not, we're gonna need to trust each other, the Outcasts, and everyone else."

The train finally reached the other end of the tunnel and they got off. "Well, if that's how it works we've gotta tell the General about your hive mind theory as soon as we get everyone outta here." Turbo said as they ran down the rainbow bridge. When they reached the bottom Turbo pointed to the stadium, "You go that way and tell everyone at the track to get out. I'll warn the people at the castle and anyone I meet on the way." Toffee nodded and ran toward the stadium without questioning him.

Turbo took off toward the castle. He wasn't ready to face a huge crowd of people from this game like he was sure to find at the stadium, and he doubted anyone there would listen to him. Besides, since she hadn't entered the roster race in favor of escorting him through Sugar Rush, Turbo guessed that Vanellope was most likely at the castle.

He ran down the path, and sure enough, right ahead of him he saw Vanellope. She wasn't alone, there were three other racers with her, standing in a circle talking, Taffyta, Candlehead and Rancis. Ah well, those were three kids he didn't have to worry about tracking down. "Vanellope!" He called as he sprinted toward them.

She turned around, eyes widened upon hearing his voice. The other three didn't seem as surprised to see him as they should have been, probably informed by there princess or president or whatever Vanellope was calling herself now, that he was still alive. Turbo skidded to a halt in front of them and took a moment to catch his breath.

"Turbo? What are you doing back here?" Vanellope asked, "I thought you said you were leaving!"

"What are you doing here at all?" Taffyta said crossing her arms. At her side Rancis and Candlehead closed in tighter, almost like they were forming a defense line for Vanellope, except they were hanging back too much. All words no action.

Thankfully Turbo hadn't come to hurt her, otherwise Vanellope's little line of guards would have been next to useless. While he panted he glitched back and forth into his King Candy form before settling on it "There'ths thome kinda viruth outbreak in game central thstation," He explained, "Tofferita'ths gone to tell the people at the thtadium, but we need to get everyone from the cathtle out and to a thafer place."

"Virus? Safer place? Turbo, what are you talking about?" Vanellope asked.

"Look, there isn't time for this, just go to the castle and tell everyone to head for the station." Turbo said, "I'll take anyone else I find out here."

"Hey, why should we believe you?" Rancis asked.

"Yeah!" Candlehead agreed, although of the three of them she looked the least upset about his presence. "You lied to us for fifteen years, how do we know you're not lying now?"

Turbo opened his mouth but closed it again. He hadn't really thought about having to prove it. He had no evidence, the only thing he'd brought was the piece of memory data, and that was no use. And Candlehead was right, he had lied to them, they had no reason to believe him, even if he was telling the truth this time.

He was stuck on an answer, trapped with no way to make them believe him and glanced helplessly at Vanellope as if somehow he could just get her to make them trust him on this. Vanellope met his gaze and her eyebrows were furrowed with worry. She knew he couldn't be trusted, but at the same time Vanellope also understood he had no reason to make something like this up. She was as stuck as he was.

Suddenly Taffyta gasped and pointed to the sky behind him "What's that?" She stepped back in fear, clinging to Rancis's arm.

Turbo turned around, and only caught a glimpse of a dark shape flying toward them before he whirled back around and pushed Vanellope to the ground, "Get down!" He shouted at the other three.

They didn't question him this time, all them dropped, just in time, something shot passed their heads, burying into the ground, where they would have been hit if they hadn't ducked. They were darts of some kind, filled with a liquid that was that poisonous yellow-green color that seemed to be linked with the virus,

The figure in the air flew passed them, turning around and heading for the stadium. Turbo was glitching between his forms again as he got off a blushing Vanellope and stood up, "BeLi3vE m3 n0w?" He hissed, and turned to the other racers, "You three come with me, we're going to gather anybody who'ths thtill in the foretht, Vanellope you go to the cathtle and tell everyone to get out."

"Got it!" Vanellope didn't argue now that she had actually been attacked by something, and saved by Turbo. She didn't run, more like skipped and then glitched into nothing, reappearing again several feet further from her starting point, that weird teleporting ability her glitch had turned into.

Candlehead took his hand, "C'mon King Candy, let's go!" She said tugging him along.

_King Candy..._

Even now, Candlehead seemed to say that name with a lot of fondness. It made a stab of guilt shoot through Turbo. In many ways, King Candy had been the perfect alterego for him after he had entered Sugar Rush, the King's fun wacky personality was just the distraction he needed to keep from dwelling on the past. His memory problems were no longer a worry since the blueprint of every day in Sugar Rush was basically the same. Turbo liked to think that he had been a good ruler to these people, even if it was all a lie.

As they ran through the forest they got the attention of wandering citizens. Turbo's glitching had started again, but he forced his body to remain in King Candy form, realizing quickly that the people of Sugar Rush trusted his familiar visage over his true form in a heart beat. "C'mon, hurry up, everyone to the thtation, I'll thow you where to go from there." Turbo instructed.

The people were confused, most of them didn't understand the danger they faced or had any idea what a virus was, but they followed their guts and trusted their old King. His case was helped by the three racers accompanying him, encouraging the sentient candy to listen to him. Soon Turbo was leading a good sized group of people toward the station, he kept glancing back at the castle hoping that Vanellope would be catching up with the people from the castle each time he looked.

He saw nothing.

After the initial confused questions died down the group became quiet, with a low buzzing sound being the only real noise. Most of the citizens latched to each other in parties of three or four, whispering amongst each other, while the three racers stuck to themselves leaving 'King Candy' at the front of the group on his own. It felt surprisingly good for Turbo to be leading them out of danger like this, like a weight was being lifted off him, after so many years of deceiving these people to protect himself, here he was actually doing something to protect them.

There went his internal conflict again.

And that damn buzzing was getting louder! Where was it coming from? Turbo turned around, thinking maybe one of the citizens had some toy or something that might be making that noise, but instead he saw the same dark shape from before heading back towards them. "Look out!" He warned. Snickers! That guy, he could see it was a person on a hoverboard from some sci-fi game now, must have gone all around Sugar Rush shooting darts!

Everyone ducked and it seemed that again they were lucky that no one was hit this round. The people screamed, Turbo ran through the crowd glitching yet again, trying to get them all to calm down and spread out. Not split up, exactly, just make themselves less of a target by breaking apart into smaller groups. "Taffyta, Candlehead, Rancith!" He called over the terrified cries of the citizens, "I need you three to help me get them thettled, don't let the run off. The thtation ith jutht ahea-"

Turbo stopped mid-sentence, he wasn't really sure why. He felt a chill wash over him, and his stomach hurt, the racer tried to blink away an emptiness that was clouding his mind. For a moment Turbo didn't have any idea what was going on around him, all he knew was a sudden feeling like everything was slipping away.

Taffyta was closest to him, and confused by Turbo's sudden silence she eased a couple of the citizens with reassuring words that the thing that had flown over them had passed as she made her way to the leader. Their attacker had disappeared into the distance, heading toward the stadium, and she hoped the pessimistic racer had gotten everyone to clear out.

"King Candy, c'mon, we need to get everyone moving before that thing comes back." He didn't budge, Taffyta stepped closer and tapped his shoulder, "Um, hello? Turbo, you in there?"

The former king turn around, and the first thing she saw was his eyes wide with shock and horror. They glanced down and Taffyta followed his gaze to his abdomen where she saw what had caused his sudden silence. It was a dart, one of the ones that had been shot at them this time. The yellow-green mixture inside was all gone, pumped into Turbo's body. Their eyes met again, Turbo's irises started to change color, and his face pixeled over with red data, switching back and forth between his two faces again.

"Run." He mouthed, then suddenly screamed in agonized pain, and exploded into red pixels. Surprise and terror left the citizens and racers frozen in place and King Candy vanished completely, replaced instead with a terrible monster. Taffyta backed away from him as he grew and stared up at his face, Turbo's eyes were dark again.

But they were hardly friendly. He glared down at them, not as their wacky friendly King, but as a very, _very_ angry and confused Cybug that had nothing to vent its frustration on other than the gathering of living candy before him.

Candy...Food...

With a snarl the Cybug swiped at them with his claws, the already terrified citizens broke into all out panic, remembering the horror of the Cybug invasion. The racers weren't much better, but at least tried to maintain some sense, trying to keep the group together wile they ran. This didn't turn out to be such a good idea as the hungry Cybug just chased after and started picking them off two or three at a time.

They had been close to the bridge out of Sugar Rush though, and help was already on the way.

Ralph's concern over Turbo's disappearance had prompted an immediate questioning of everyone in the underground. Though it had taken some time a fragile young man had confessed to seeing the racer leave just after the General had sent Tofferita to Sugar Rush. A little more pressing and they were able to determine that Turbo had followed her out. Theories as to why varied from person to person, but Ralph refused to think that Turbo being back in Sugar Rush was anything except bad news.

And in a way he was right. A party consisting of Ralph, General and Sergeant Calhoun, Felix and that warrior Faolan fought their way through the station. It seemed that beyond the boundaries of the cross, the virus had dominated most of the arcade already. Occasionally small normal-eyed avatars were seen cowering in tight places the large infected ones couldn't reach, or guarded by warriors whom Ralph personally directed toward the hole guarded by the cross.

Like the General had suggested, the more people they got down there, the better their odds.

The train was just returning when they reached in, the others spoke to each other during the train ride, but Ralph paced back and forth along the sugar trolly restlessly. Only days ago his biggest worry was Turbo's return, now he wished it was that simple. The long trip felt longer than usual because of the constant worry, but Ralph finally saw the light of Sugar Rush coming from down the tunnel.

The train stopped and they all ran out, Calhoun gasped and grabbed her gun off her back, Ralph followed her gaze and saw his living nightmare at the entrance to the candy cane forest: the King Candy Cybug. At this distance Ralph couldn't see what he was doing, but he looked like he was chasing someone and he immediately feared for Vanellope.

"Let's go!" Calhoun said charging down the rainbow bridge, Faolan just behind her wielding a large sword.

Ralph was about to go after them, but beside him, the other Calhoun pulled out one of the vials he had brought with him and drank from the mixture. After swallowing a small portion he slipped it back into his coat pocket and groaned, closing his eyes and clutching himself as if in pain.

"You alright?" Felix asked worriedly.

The General's eyes snapped open again, his pupils were slit horizontally and wings ripped out of his back, he blinked and black marking fell over his cheeks like tears, "Just a side effect." Tadeusz dismissed and flapped his wings once before taking to the air, over shooting his daughter and beating her and Faolan to the rampaging Cybug.

By the time Ralph caught up to them, the General was on Turbo's back with the bug trying to buck him off. Faolan dove at the bug's legs, slashing away with his sword making Turbo yowl in pain and swipe at him angrily. He glitched red pixels that swapped his face from one form to the other. Tamora had her gun pointed at the Cybug but couldn't fire without risking hurting the General or Faolan so she merely yelled insults at him.

Huddled together, trapped by a rock were Taffyta, Candlehead and Rancis. Felix and Ralph went over to comfort them, "He was hit by a dart!" Taffyta whimpered, "And then he turned into _that thing_!"

Ralph glanced over to the battle, Tadeusz was finally thrown off the Cybug's back, but he righted himself in the air and dove back into the fray shouting Turbo's name and demanding for him to stop. The Wrecker had seen those darts in the station, and barely avoided them himself a few times, but he thought it was odd that it had caused Turbo to transform into the Cybug. Perhaps that was something the virus had planned.

"Where's Vanellope?" Ralph asked.

Candlehead sniffed and answered in a weak, shaky voice, "King C-Candy asked her to go t-t-tell everyone at the c-castle to get out." She said, "And h-he was taking us to the station when- when...and he...The citizens..." She broke down into a terrified sob.

Calhoun was close enough to hear the whole conversation. Tadeusz was swatted away again, landing on the ground heavily beside them. "He's been infected. Fowler or whatever your name is! Get out of the way!" the Sergeant called. Faolan ducked back toward them and she took aim.

Seconds before she fired Tadeusz grabbed her arm and yanked her down, "No, wait!" He shouted, Tamora's weapon blasted, but missed Turbo by quite a bit, but still enough to make the Cybug even more enraged.

Tamora shook him off her, "What is wrong with you?" She demanded, taking aim again the reproaching bug.

The General stopped her again, "Look at his eyes!" He instructed

Tamora stopped and did as commanded, Ralph too turned his gaze to Turbo's eyes. While they were filled with animalistic rage and clouded with madness, they were perfectly normal. Not even a hint of the yellow-green color that signified the virus presence. What did that mean?

"The Cybug's going berserk. I've seen it before, in the Underground." The General said, "Turbo's still in there somewhere, we just need to get him back. Turbo, it's Tadeusz! Listen to me, snap out of it!"

The Cybug swiped at him and gave a psychotic cackle. Ralph wasn't sure if Turbo remembered he could talk, but that was the least of their worries right now. The racers were crying again, and Ralph knew they had to lead Turbo away from them.

"It's being usually stubborn," The General muttered to himself as the adults prepared for battle, "That virus might not have taken over his body, but its certainly put Turbo's Cybug on the offense. We need to wear him out and knock some sense into him."

Ralph cracked his knuckles, "Not a problem." He'd been wanting to give Turbo a good wrecking anyway, although he would have preferred not to face the Cybug again, Ralph braced himself for it.

"Felix, get them out of here." Tamora said nodding to the racers, "We'll distract bug-boy."

Turbo snarled and swiped at her, "I dun thinhg he liges be'in galled dat." Faolan said raising his sword and taking a slice at Turbo's claws while they were in reach.

"Call him by name." Tadeusz told them, "Sooner or later he'll remember who he is, but giving him reminders won't hurt."

Turbo went after the sergeant first, her gun was deemed the most threatening to him. He swiped at her, but Tadeusz dove in, tacking Turbo's hand. Faolan's sword left a large cut on the Cybug's extended arm, a minor victory until Turbo knocked all three of them away and drew back his arm, cradling the wound. While his attention was diverted Ralph dived beneath Turbo and used all his strength to push him over.

The bug toppled onto his side, and Ralph leaped onto him, followed by General Calhoun. The two of them combined were able to wrestle him down and while the Cybug struggled to get them off, Tadeusz shouted, "Turbo! Calm down!"

Realizing that his mere struggling wasn't getting him anywhere the Cybug rolled over, crushing Tadeusz and Ralph beneath him. While they were pinned, Turbo lashed out with his good arm, sending Tamora and Faolan both flying. Ralph managed to shove Turbo's weight off himself and the General, but the Cybug was already prepared, turning around lighting fast to pick Ralph up and throw him into a pile of jawbreakers. The wrecker landed on his head and things went black for a moment.

The screaming woke him up.

Ralph sat up shaking his head. Tamora and Faolan were no were in sight, Tadeusz had reverted to his original form and was pinned under the Cybug again. Felix stood in front of the racer's holding up his hammer defensively. Whatever was left of Turbo in the monstrosity he had become remembered that the hammer was used for fixing things, not harming them. Turbo flicked Felix aside and, having defeated all of his challengers, they Cybug's hand continued to hover over the racers to select his prize.

"King Candy no!" Candlehead begged, "Please don't eat us!"

Ralph got to his feet, he was so dizzy from the blow to his head that the action almost made him blackout again. The children screamed louder, Turbo picked up Rancis and the boy struggled in his clutches. Ralph sprinted toward them, the world was swimming around him and he couldn't manage to go in a straight line. "Put me down! Help!" Rancis begged. Turbo ignored the pleading and lifted the peanut butter cup themed racer toward his lips.

The wrecker reached them just as Rancis's head was about to disappear into the Cybug's mouth, he pushed with all his might, trying to make him drop the boy, but Turbo only swatted him aside again. "No!" Ralph knew it was over then, Rancis was a goner.

Suddenly a familiar voice cried out "Turbo! What are you doing?"  
Vanellope glitched toward them with the Oreo guard trailing behind her. As happy as he was that she was safe, the wrecker wanted to tell her to get away from the Cybug. However, just as Ralph started to shout his warning. Turbo slowly drew Rancis gasping and sputtering out of his mouth and turned toward her, blinking in confusion. "Vanellope...?"

Just like the General said, Turbo snapped out of the Cybug's rampage. Realizing what he had done and what he was trying to do, the ex-racer dropped the boy in his hand and lifted his body off Tadeusz. The other three members of their company arrived back at the spot of the fight in time to see Turbo hunch over and retch. From the sickeningly sweet odor of semi-digested candy and the reaction from the children, Ralph could guess that Turbo hadn't gotten it from the landscape. This was their game, they'd regenerate, right?

Vanellope ran passed Turbo to comfort the other racers, while Tadeusz dusted chocolate powder from his black coat and approached his friend, "Turbo, you alright?"

The Cybug continued coughing and hacking up what remained in his stomach and wiped his mouth. His whole body was shaking, "I got hit... with one of those darts." He answered.

"You should have been infected." Felix noted.

Turbo nodded."I can feel it...the virus...It's inside me..." He closed his eyes and moaned. His body broke apart into red pixels and reformed, Turbo his louder and his body broke apart and reformed again. This happened several more times before Turbo glanced worriedly at the General. "I can't change back."

"Curious..." The other man replied stroking his chin contemplatively.

"Why did you turn into a Cybug instead of one of the Manticore's puppets?" Tamora asked and hushed the racers when they asked about the Manticore, promising an explanation later.

"I don't know."

"We'll have to figure it out later." The General said, "Whatever the reason, it may hold the key to creating an antivirus. We're going to need a lab and equipment." Turbo gave a loud unhappy groan, he knew what that meant. More tests, more being studied.

"What about the virus?" Ralph asked, "It's still out there."

"I know, and it's probably already setting it's plan into action. We can still send out search parties for survivors, but without and an antivirus that's all we can do." Tadeusz replied. The group muttered in agreement. Turbo still didn't look happy, but he nodded. They started towards the exit, The General counted each person that passed him, Ralph didn't ask why, but suddenly Tadeusz spoke up again. "What happened to Toffee?"

Turbo looked over at the stadium, where the man on the hover-board had last vanished...

Far away from the others, Tofferita was being chased by three racers. She had recognized the man with the darts, but he hadn't so much as slowed down when she shouted his name. Though she had warned the people remaining in the stadium about the virus, they had only managed to file off the stands before the darts rained down on them. As far as Toffee had been able to tell, only a few people had been hit, and no one seemed to be hurt.

She was wrong.

It was only minutes before people started shouting and fighting, pushing to get to the exit Toffee thought, and again she was wrong. She didn't know how wrong until Adorabeezle Winterpop suddenly yanked her arm and tried to scratch the other racer's face. Toffee pushed away only to be attacked by someone else, not sure what was happening until she saw their eyes.

Yellow-Green, all of them.

Tofferita didn't know much about the virus that was apparently loose in the arcade, but she recognized that color from the eyes of the creature that had attacked her and Turbo on the way in, a lot of people in the station had that color in their eyes. Logically, the change in their eyes and their sudden violence had something to do with the virus. Toffee's theory was supported when she saw someone get scratched and their eyes changed colors.

It was tough to get away, but Toffee escaped the raving crowd with only three racers behind her. Only one of them had the discolored eyes at first, but the other two had gotten infected while they tried to escape. Now all three of them were hunting her. Toffee scrambled up a gumdrop rock, they could climb too, but the plan wasn't to hide from them. Using the gummy candy as a spring board, Tofferita jumped over their heads and sprinted towards the track while they were busy trying to climb up.

If she could just get to one of the karts, it didn't matter which one, anything that would be faster than running on foot.

She was almost there. Toffee could see the karts lined up after the roster race. Though the arcade wasn't open they had decided to run the race so that they had a roster prepared and goof off during their vacation. So close, just a little further.

Toffee tripped and tumbled painfully to her knees. A shadow loomed over her, she whimpered as she looked up. Wynchel and Duncan, the two doughnut guards stood over her. Though they weren't always the brightest or bravest people, the sight of them still normally gave Tofferita a sense of comfort, like things were going to be alright,

Not now.

Beneath their sunglasses their eyes were usually invisible, but one of the lenses from Duncan's glasses was cracked enough that she could see a sliver of the color that signified the virus's presence. Wynchel leaned down, extending a hand toward her in a gesture that, if not for the eyes she knew were hidden beneath his sunglasses, would have been reassuring.

"Please..." Toffee begged, "Please, no..."

**Author's end note: **Thank you for reading and for putting up with the fact that I keep stopping chapters like this, I'll be back with a new chapter as soon as I can!


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